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Current
Drag Racing Headlines

July
12, 2016

This
from Zach Liston.

Sad
to hear of the passing of Les Petrin. Long time Hot Rod racer at Mission
Raceway. He passed last Friday. No confirmed word on the service yet.

July
10, 2016

Our
Spokane connection Jamie Clerf got some good karma sent his way after
round by round results for the Funny Car last night. Today he went to
the finals in Pro Bracket at the Big Bucks race. He took home over 2k
for the runner-up.

At
Chicago, Ron Capps won Funny Car over Jack Beckman and Antron Brown took
the Top Fuel title over JR Todd. Greg Anderson won Pro Stock over Bo Butner
and Andrew Hines won PSM over Anglelle Sampey. In TAFC, Shane Westerfield
got the double up, after winning TAFC in the Jeg's race yesterday he won
TAFC today at the main race. His payday was in the 20k range. Likely the
biggest in the Top Alky classes all year long. Joey Severance got the
win in TAD today. Chris Demke won yesterday in the Allster race.

July
9, 2016

11:15pm
update

Tim
Boychuk wins Funny Car at Spokane with a 5.62 in the final round over
an out of shape Mark Sanders. Garrett Richards wins Pro Mod with a 6.20
or Dale Pedersen's 6.30. They qualified #1 and #2. Five Pro Mod cars ran
at Spokane. In their Blown alky class, Dane Lachelt wins the deal.

Not a good finish to the Jeg's Allster team race as Div. 6 finished
dead last. If it wasn't for Mick Alley who was the bright spot for
the Division with a win in Stock, it would have been real ugly.
Brian Hyerstay the #1 qualifier in COmp went .008 red, Mike Shannon
lost two races by a combined .003. double break out by .002 in S.
Comp and a one thou loss in S. Gas. The combined losses in the rest
of the classes for Div six were less than .030. If the West Regional
drivers were allowed to be included in the points it would not have
looked so bad as the West dominated the Jegs with wins in both TAD
and TAFC. Chris Demke and Shane Westerfield took the wins.

In Pro qualifying,
Top Fuel is still lead by Britanny Force, as she earned her second of
the season with her Friday 3.692. In Funny Car, the field was set as the
quickest ever, lead by Matt Hagan and a 3.882/331. In total 13 cars were
in the 3's. Jack Beckman was #2 with a 3.885 at a record breaking speed
of 333.25mph. Pro Stock #1 is Shane Gray. His Friday run of 6.578 topped
the field. PSM is lead by Matt Smith's 6.842

8:45
pm update

The
Spokane semi finals were just complete and what a pair of semis they were.
Tim Boychuk rips off a 5.65 to defeat a very game 5.73 by Cory Lee. Then
in one of the quickest side by sides ever, Mark Sanders gets a holeshot
win over Kris Krabill 5.69 to a much quicker 5.62. What a shocker!!! Krabill
is usually one of the quickest on the tree and Mr. Explosive is not know
for his reaction time prowess. Good one you Mark and Jake, and congrat's
to Tim Boychuk on his best run with Twig tuning the car.

6:40
pm update

At
Spokane they are into round one elims and a live report is here: After
final qualifying, Kris Krabill laid down a 5.60/255 to nail down #1. Cory
Lee went 5.73 (#2),
Tim Boychuk #3 with a 5.73, Mark Sanders #4 witha 5.75, Ryan Hodgson #5
with a 5.75 and Tim Nemeth #6 with a 5.78. Robert Townsend #7 The bump
spot was a 5.94, held by Wally Glavia.

Chris
Davis got in as an alternate and he took on Kris Krabill. Krabill ran
a 5.64 to Daivs' 6.11. Cory Lee defeated Robert Townsend the #7 qualifier
with a 5.78/251. Mark Sanders defeated Edmonton's Ryan Hodgson 5.82 to
a 5.82. Hodgson went red. In the final pairing it was Tim Boychuk taking
on the other Tim, Tim Nemeth from Chilliwack. Tim (Nemeth doulbe stepped
and went red and Boychuk shook hard but got the win. Second round pairings
will be Krabill vs Sanders and Boychuk vs Lee. Thanks to Jamie Clerf for
the report.

Spokane
is running their Nitro SummerNationals and Bracket Brawl this weekend,
as the North West Coast starts a three in a row for Nitro Funny
Cars. First Spokane, then Edmonton's Rocky Mountain Nationals and
finishing off with Mission Raceway and their Summer Classic presented
by Lucas Oil (25-30 funny cars in total will be at Mission). I got
a text from an old SpeedZone Magazine contributor Jamie Clerf who
is attending and running in the bracket event. Friday night saw
two or three qualifiers and at the end there were three Canadian
cars on top. Tim Boychuk with a 5.73, Ryan Hodgson with a 5.75 and
Tim Nemeth with a 5.78. Kris Krabill went 5.79. Wally Glavia went
5.94 then wheelstood it big time in round two. Cory Lee went 5.97,
Mark Sanders ran 5.98 and Chris Davis went 6.01. Others there (not
a complete list, including Dave Benjamin debuting his new Arrow,
Rich Townsend, Clint Thompson, Marcus Lawson, Jim Maroney and a
few Fuel Altereds. There are a total of 15 fuel cars there. We will
try and get a few photos today.

Chicago
is the big Route 66 Nationals including the Sportsman Jeg's Allster
event. Division Six competitors include some of the who's/who from
the NW

They
are also racing those Nitro and Pro Stock classes in case anyone
was interested. After Friday, it was Ron Capps leading Funny Car
(3.881), Britanny Force leading Top Fuel (3.69) and in the biggest
surprise from the Pro Stock class, Shane Gray leads Pro Stock with
a 6.578. PSM is lead by Matt Smith with a 6.84 and in TAD it is
Rich McPhillips with a 5.272 and John Lombardo with a 5.47 in TAFC.

Outlaw
10. 5 is finallt showing potential. I am still not convinced that
the potential will be any better running 1/8 mile vs 1/4 mile but
what do I know. In talking to one of the competitors in 10.5 that
has first hand experience with the bad sideof 1/4 mile racing (Mike
Walterson) he said he still prefers 1/4 mile as a fan, but he will
not race 1/4 mile once his car is rebuilt. He has a serious tire
blow out in his car and that was the first run on that set of tires.
He does have a heavy car and was likely going around 200 when the
tire let go. You do have to take it seriously from a 1/4 fan. It
was really unfortunate that three of the competitors who planned
on racing did ot make a qualifiyng run. We had 13 cars on the property
but Roy Moznik, Dean Branham and Jay Syvertsen not able to make
the call. There are a handful of other cars in the NW that we should
see in 2017, so the potential looks good. Lets hope so. Man the
races are over guick though.

Mission
Raceway is pleased to announce that Drag Radial 275 will be added for
the "Smoke Fire and Thunder" event August 26-28. Rules will
be the same as the Doorwarz
event. Basic SCSN weight rules with the Doorwarz chassis rules. There
will be at least one qualifier Friday night. We will post more info soon.
If you are interested in sponsoring the class please contact me at speedzone1@shaw.ca
or 604 302 3907.

It
was a wild finish to a pretty crazy day in the Pro Mod class. While
there were a number of aborted runs as the Pro Mod teams struggled
to manage the track, there was some great overall performances.
Richards' made six five second passes, including the top MPH bonus,
courtesy Albion Tireland. Gondziola only made two five second passes,
but his first one counted as low et for the weekend 5.858/245, and
the JBS Canada #1 qualifying bonus. Craig Cawte ran a best of 5.86
and had a number of 5 second passes. A pretty good showing for the
first weekend out with a brand new combination. Most of the kudos
for that team go to tuner Al Billes. Glen Kerunsky reached a pretty
lofty milestone as well as he made a couple five second runs, the
first of his racing career. He did it with a NHRA legal 14/71 blower
(run at 29% though). Paul Glandon is close to being back to his
6.0 and five second performance level. That team was struggling
with chassis set up. Yvonne Lucas, after struggling all weekend
made a solid 6.11/234 run and then backed up that with a 6.13 in
round one. Hopefully their valve train issue is not serious. The
teams will be back here is August for the Smoke Fire and Thunder
event presented by SMS/Komatsu-Rents.

A
great weekend for first time "Fortin's Engines" Canada
West Doorslammer finalist Scott Robinson at Doorwarz IV. He did
not end up as champion, and had to settle for runner-up, but he
was facing one of the best drivers in the class, Kevin Lance.
Lance has gone more rounds than any other driver this year, reaching
to finals and the semi finals at all four races. His won/loss
record is a solid 14-3. He has the point lead heading into the
second half of the season.

The
Top Sportsman final had all the makings of a few thou stripe at
the finish line as two of the best TS drivers in the NW battled.
Alberta's James Rutherford went the the final round Saturday (the
two combatants Rutherford and Lanz did not get to finish the final
due to time restraints and a big oil down near the curfew), and
was on a roll heading to the final against Mission's Zak Clarke.
The sun was almost set, but it was in both drivers eyes, so their
lights were not great but they were within a hundredth of each
other. Withthe temperatures cooling off the bite was awesome but
the groove was narrow. Rutherford stayed right in the middle but
Clarke drifeted to the right and by 200 feet his car was only
half in the groove. He had to drive the wheels off the car to
stay in the battle, but by the finish line he was close to 3/4's
of a car length back, with James taking a .036 finish line stripe.
Other than the Pro Mod winner and 10.5 winner james had the third
biggest payday of the weekend taking home $4250.00, plus his son
Link was the runner-up in Jr Dragster on Saturday.

Drag
Radial 275 had all the makings of an epic final round as the #1
and #2 qualifiers battled for the Doorwarz title. Steve Skokin
was the defending champion and had a career best et in the semi
finals, a great 4.854. Tom Marshall was the #1 qualifier and he
ran his career best, a great 4.872 in the final qualifier to be
the #1 qualifier. Both drivers rolled through elimination's, making
it a Canada vs USA battle. Based on the 4.85 in the semis the
defending champion and crew chief Tom were pretty confident. Marshall
got a .04 starting line advantage so it would be tough for Skokin's
to overcome that. The car was accelerating well, but Steve had
drifted outside the groove and his left rear tire straddle the
concrete edge at 200 feet. He kept his foot in it (look at the
pictures to see where his track was), but the rt deficit and having
to drive an extra 10-20 feet was too much. The car also hiccupped
around 300 feet, and that was all she wrote. Tom Marshall to the
win with a solid 4.892 to Steve's 5.071

July
4, 2016

10:00PM
UPDATE

Coverage sponsored by JBS Canada

Pro
Mod

In
the Pro Mod final both the winner Mike Gondziola and runner-up Garrett
Richards had issues. First it was "Gonzi" who had to pedal
the car and get right off the gas he he had traction issues. You
can see in picture #2 that he was off the gas completely. He must
have seen Richard's have his own issues as he got back on the loud
pedal (you can see in picture 3) as Garrett hit the center line.
Gondziola is the back to back champion in a hard earned victory.

Based
on the way Paja Agatonovic was running on the weekend it was not
surprise he was in the final round. He ran quicker every lap down
the track and the end result for him were career bests on five
occasions. The shock was the opponent in the other lane. Now Steve
has a bad ass car and has won many huge events, but this weekend
he struggled on most occasions. He ran a great 4.24 in qualifying
but that run was dq'ed when he was found to be 25 lbs light. Then
he had issues in the next session and smoked the tires in one
more qualifier. He did end up #3 in the field. He waded through
elimination's and that included defeating #1 qualifier Ken Sihota.
It was more or less Sihota losing more than Steve winning in the
semi finals. Steve had a stellar perfect light in the final but
Ken did the unthinkable, he left before the tree was activated.
The final round was all Paja, as Steve went red and the Oregon
driver ripped off another solid pass, a 4.18@181.85 mph.

3:00pm
update:

Results
from the weekend at MRP (Doorwarz results) are a work in progress. They
will be done over the next three days. Go to Doorwarz.com
for all the class elimination's sheets. The final rounds for all the bracket
classes including Super Shifters is on the local
headlines page here.

Yvonne
made it exciting for the wrong reasons and the Lucas team had two
different manifold issues on the weekend. Mike and Mike (and Yvonne)
are still scratching their head.

Mike
Gondziola continued his dominance in Nitrous Pro Mod racing with
a new career best run of 5.85/245. Unfortunately at the end of this
run his chutes did not blossom. The car did sustain a bit of damage
and they were workng hard on it so they could continue Saturday,

Glen
Kerunsky was out of the trailer and into a career best. He bettered
is old PB by five hundreth's

Ken Sihota
does it again, with a Western Canadian record 4.06.

Steve
Skokin proved that the old way still works. The team had to put
in their four year old Pro Charger after destroying two new ones.

More
results and photos in the morning

July
1, 2016

1:00am
update

A decent
day to start testing Thurdsay at Doorwarz. Six or Seven Pro Mods
made hits including Craig Cawte in his reworked Camaro.

Mike
Gondziola made two short hits in his new Corvette.Sub one second
60fts.

Rick
Barnhart brought out his Ford BB with Twins under the hood.

Gary
Urlacher Did a couple 200 foot runs. Both seemed to go left.

Nick
Duda's power came on at 40 feet as you can see by this launch at
the 60 feet marker.

Chad
Abougoush ran his 10.5 out the back door on a couple runs.

Neil
Richards was hazing the tires on both runs I saw.

June 29, 2016

It's
about to get real!!!

The
biggest door car weekend in Canada and all of the NW is here!

The
pits started to fill today for Doorwarz IV. 10 or so Pro Mods are
here already, a big handful of Outlaw 10.5. At least a dozen Top
Sportsman cars, some as far away as Saskatoon and Grand Prairie,
an Open Comp car from Ontario, the the owner has said this race
has been on its bucket list since its inception and a handful of
Doorslammers. This is going to be good! Huge thanks go out to JBS
Canada for sponsoring our coverage here at SpeedZone. They are also
a sponsor for the low qualifier for Pro Mod. $500.00 for the #1
qualifier.

Photos:

Top:
Most should recognize this car. It is the one and only Street Lethal
Canso. Now owned by Jay Syvertsen and with an entirely different
powerplant, a twin turbo bullet with 10.5 tires under the wheel
wells.

Craig
Cawte is back at MRP with an entirely different look. An Al Billes
powered and tuned hemi with screw blower. New paint. Craig's kids
Curtis and Kendall love the race track and think daddy will be fast!

Paul
Glandon is back to avenge his 1st round ouster at the last WDRL
event.

June
28, 2016

Congratulations
to Mark Sanders for his win at the IHRA event in Grand Bend. He
along with the previous race winner Tim Boychuk will be in attendance
at Mission Raceway's Lucas Oil Summer Classic That race is one of
the can't miss events on the Summer schedule at MRP. There will
be over 25 Nostalgia/Vintage Funny Cars competing that weekend making
it one of the largest gatherings outside of the March Meet and Hot
Rod Reunion on the West Coast and perhaps the rest of North America.
Mark down July 22-24 on your must see event calendar.

A bunch
more updates at the Doorwarz web. Close to 16 cars are registered
for Outlaw 10.5. Over 20 Pro Mods and Top Sportsman cars and close
to 30 Canada West Doorslammers. Check
it out.

Even
this car makes it long awaited return to competition. The powerplant
will be different than the picture shown, but the excitement it
brought to the local tracks will be the same we think. Especially
when the tire underneath it it way smaller. (Bob Wilson photo)

Important
Notice:
Due to Road Racing Thursday till 2:30pm at Mission Raceway, there will
be no parking in the second pit area and tech pit area until 3:00pm in
advance of Doorwarz IV. Gates will be open from noon until 7pm on Wednesday
and will re-open at noon on Thursday. But all those parking in the second
pit area and the tech area pit will have to park in the Spectator parking
lot until 3:00pm Thursday. Those affected include Doorslammers, Open Comp,
and all bracket classes (except motorcycle) will be in the second pit
area and tech pit area. Those in the main pit area include Pro Mod, Outlaw
10.5, Outlaw 275, Outlaw 8.5, Top Sportsman, and Motorcycle. Tech will
start on Thursday at around noon.

Results
from Mission Raceway are posted here (includes
final round and a couple winners circle photos).

June
19, 2016

11:00pm
update

What
day locally at Mission Raceway. Father's day turned into a great
day for many dad's. Phil Davis cracked into the 6 Second zone including
his best 6.90/210. His daughter Maria and her family and wife Pat
were there to celebrate.

Quentin
Chambers also hit a milestone. He ripped off a couple 5.90 runs
including a best of 5.95/231. He went on to win the race and had
two of his daughters, Heidi and Tara there to take in the day with
their dad. His other daughter was rodeoing (it that a word?) this
weekend.

Kevin
McNicol definitely celebrated Sunday as he won the Provincial championship
Wally plaque, no doubt it is in Keith Vahle's honor. I'm sorry I
missed that memorial Saturday evening but I was visiting my nephew
Brandon who has started his slow recovery after the horrific crash
early last week.

Ryan Johnston was launching Dad Guy Johnston's Corvette as they
add more power to the early model stingray.

Rob
Phippen was driving father in law Leo Grocock's Blown alky digger
today. He was making laps to earn his license. He ran a 6.91 best.

Side
by Side 200 mph wheelstands were the end result of this run Sunday
in NW Outlaw qualifying. Dane Lachelt and Norm Mitchell launched
the wheels and ran 6.22 and 6.60 respectively.

Scott
Robinson was hooking well in the Doorslammer class at Mssion as
well. He ran a best of a 7.87

8:00am
update

Happy
Father's day to all the dads out there.

A huge congrat's to Tim Boychuk on his huge win yesterday in Maryland
at the Budd's Creek IHRA event. He won on a holeshot against Mike
McIntire Jr. 5.72 to a 5.71. Twig Zeigler had that that car flying
this weekend. 5.7's all day long.

The
local weather is okay right at this time, hopefully more clearly happens
and MRP gets to run today.

June
18, 2016

Unfortunately
the weather is changed for the worse this weekend at Mission Raceway.
Both Saturday and Sunday are now forecasted to be wet for the better part
of each day. Hopefully that is not the case.

Bristol's
Thunder Valley Nationals saw Friday qualifying complete with a few rain
interruptions but track record runs were produced in Funny Car. Ron Capps
set the track et record with a 3.884 in the second session. Del Worsham
went 329 mph along with a 3.888 to set the mph record at Bristol. Robert
Hight was also in the 3.8 as he ran a 3.897/321. Top Fuel saw the Alan
Johnson tuned dragster of Steve Torrence run a 3.744/324 mph. Doug Kalitta
is #2 with a 3.767 and Brittany Force is #3 with a 3.773. The Summit cars
lead Pro Stock ... again. Jason Line is #1 with a 6.680 and Anderson is
#2 with a 6.692. Bo Butner is #3 with a 6.699. Vince Nobile is #4. The
Elite team is getting closer as he sits #4 with a 6.700. In Pro Mod, Bob
Rahaim is #1 with a 5.796/246 (Nitrous power), Troy Coughlin is #2 with
a 5.831/251 (Turbo power). The quickest blown powered driver is Chip King.
He is a tenth back with a 5.893 best (#6). Both Canadian cars in the field
are outside the top 16 right now, Jim Bell is #19 with a coasting 6.072/217
and Kenny Lang is #21 with a 6.128/238.

June
17, 2016

Two
out of the next three days look good weather wise locally, as Saturday
is a bit iffy. Hopefully Saturday turns out okay as well as it will be
a busy weekend at Mission Raceway. Doorslammers, The NW Outlaws all the
bracket classes and Super Combo are scheduled to compete. Also, the NHRA
Provincial Championships and Land of the Leader Challenge.

The
NHRA is in the middle of one of its toughest stretches of the season,
the third of four weekends in row stretch with Bristol's "Thunder
Valley Nationals". The three professional classes and the J&A
services Pro Mods will highlight the weekend.

Northern
BC has Fort St John's Northern Lights Raceway running this weekend with
their second race of the year. After heavy rains in the North earlier
this week, the weather should be a lot better for the weekend.

Edmonton's
Castrol Raceway was supposed to host their IHRA Pro Am last weekend and
qualifying was completed both days. Unfortunately rain kept elimination's
from starting and the race was postponed until July 14-16.

June
15, 2016

9:30
pm update

Prayers
go out tonight for my nephew Brandon. He was hit head on by a driver
coming into his lane today. He was airlifted to Royal Columbian
in critical condition and has been in surgery since noon today.
Multiple broken bones and major lacerations. No major head trauma
(at this point) and the spine appears okay. Please keep Brandon
and my brother and family in your prayers.

5:30pm
update

MRP
is proud to announce that the Open Comp class forDoorwarz
IV will be called the "Keith Vahle Memorial Open Comp"
class. Dont forget Keith will be remembered this Saturday at Mission
Raceway after racing (between approx 6:30pm in the Max Fox Building).

June
15, 2016

9:00am
update

This
weekend looks to be a good one locally at Mission Raceway. The NW Outlaws
will battle in their first race one the year (their first scheduled race
was rained out three weeks ago), and the Canada West Doorslammers are
feature classes. We may see a few Pro Mods and small tire cars compete
as well, with Doorwarz IV only two weeks away.

Up
in Edmonton a couple weeks ago a couple prominent cars were testing and
upgrading:

Serge
Dion was getting a handle on his A/Fuel car and ran a career best by a
mile 5.47 / 265 (previous best would be around a high 5.90 or low 6.0).
A Doug Nichol video.

Gary
Urlacher is close to the numbers he is working toward as he ripped off
a career best (by almost 2/10ths) 6.12/227 in his Nitrous Corvette. Doug
Nichol video

June
12, 2016

Saw
Roy Moznik's time slip on his career best 6.352/212 at Seattle. A killer
.997 60 foot and 2.71 to 330. His 1/8 mile was 4.099 @ 177.72 mph. That
is getting after it Roy! The Canadian cars are kicking ass performance
wise. Dean Branham did not make the race and his car is on the verge of
flying as well.275 saw three Canadian cars in the 4's and likely three
more (as Steve Skokin struggled and is a solid 4 second car, Scott Schulhauser,
the two time champ at Doorwarz and Alex DeWolf weren't there). Doorwarz
should be epic. Hopefully the weather for Doorwarz IV is similar conditions
to this weekend at Seattle and Woodburn, relatively cool temperatures
make for a track with bite.

5:30PM
UPDATE

The
Rocky Mountain Funny Cars held their first race last weekend the results
are posted here.

It
looks like Eric Peterson won Outlaw 10.5 at Seattle this afternoon. I
would say that Steve Nicholson was the runner-up based on the ladder but
I am not positive. Eric was the #5 qualifier with a 7.07 but did improve
in round one to a six second pass. not sure all the numbers in the later
rounds. Most of the teams struggled in the early rounds with traction
issues as Peterson was the only driver to make a six second pass in the
round. Congrats, now if we can only talk him into heading North for Doorwarz.
He is not a big 1/8th mile fan though. Greg Henschell looked to be facing
another local in the 275 final round, Daniel Rodrigue. In Woodburn, Nick
Duda broke his driveshaft in the final qualifier. He remained #2 in the
field but could not return for elimination's. We will try and get word
on elimination's.

In
Englishtown, it was Greg Anderson winning again in Pro Stock, the Summit
streak continues. Steve Torrence won Top Fuel and Ron Capps won Funny
Car. Troy Coughlin won Pro Mod over Billy Glidden. Angelle Sampey won
Pro Stock Motorcycle. It was her first win in the class in nine years
(2007). She along with Alexis DeJoria, Leah Pritchett, Courtney Force
and Brittany Force have all won this year in the professional classes.
Erica Enders and Karen Stouffer are the two full time females that have
not won yet this year. Stouffer could have a chance but Erica and the
Elite Dodge teams are miles away from being competitive.

9:00AM
UPDATE

The guys
were flying yesterday at Seattle for the 10.5 and 275 shoot-outs. Ken
Sihota ripped off his best run up in the NW (he has been quicker at SCSN
6.22) with a stellar 6.244 at a career best speed 223.28. Unfortunately
for Ken he hurt his transmission in qualifying. I have not heard if he
was able to make repairs or found a replacement. Roy Moznik shattered
his career best with a 6.352@ a soft top end speed of 212 mph. Steve Nicholson
was also very stout as he went 6.433 at only 204. His may have been a
6.40 if he ran it through the 1/4 mile. Paja Agatonovic is #4 with a 6.69.
Brent Van Vliet is still sorting out his rebuilt turbo Camaro and was
in the 7.30's.

In Outlaw
275 at Seattle, local driver Greg Henschell is on top with a 4.643/162.
Alberta's Neil Richards is #2 with a 4.787/160. Tom Marshall from Salem
(expected here for Doorwarz) is #3 with a 4.954. Chris McGraa is #4 with
a 5.166 and Sherry Rohr is #5 with a 5.37. Round one happens around 11:00am.

At Woodburn
Eric Halverson leads with a 4.35/165. Nick Duda is the only Canadian in
Woodburn and he sits #2 with a solid 4.50/163. They have one more qualifier
at Woodburn before elimination's start just after noon.

At Martin
Michigan for the PDRA event, both Mike Gondziola and Scott Blake failed
to improve on their earleir qualifying times in the final session Saturday
and then in elimination's both failed to advance. Gondziola had issues
with his transbrake and was real late on the tree in his round one race
against John Camp. He had a shot and the ets were 3.85 for Camp and 3.86
for 'Gonzi'., but his light was a 2 something. Blake had a bit of a troubled
run and was off a couple thenths from his earleir qualifier. He face the
always tough Steve Jackson. Barry Daniluk lost in round one of Top Sportsman
when he broke out by 4/1000ths. Gondziola is tabled in for Doorwarz, so
we should see some stellar runs by the Saskatoon native in his new Corvette.
He likely will be well into the 5.80's (or.....). Blake has yet to confirm
his entry but we are hoping.

At Englishtown
for the Summernationals, Steve Torrence was #1 in Top Fuel, Ron Capps
led Funny CarJason Line is on top in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec led Pro
Stock Motorcycle. In Pro Mod, Danny Rowe was #1 with a 5.82/249 and Rickie
Smith was #2 (5.84/250).

June
11, 2016

8:00am
update

PDRA
qualifying is into the final round and in talking to Mike Gondziola last
night he is confident they can run even quicker this morning they are
set up for 1/4 mile racing so are not nearly as aggressive as the full
time 1/8 mile teams.

A
number of Canadian teams are in Salt Lake this weekend for the Heritage
Funny Car race. Ryan Hodgson, Tim Boychuk and Nathan Sitko are all
in attendance. All three are currently in the field heading into
race day.

Steven
Densham and Kris Krabill lead the field with 5.8 runs each.

There
is one more qualifying session today at 1:00pm then they go into
elimination's late this afternoon.

The
rumored teams planning to attend Mission's Heritage race include
Krabill, Horan Jr., Sitko, Boychuk, Hodgson, Don Hudson, David Benjamin,
Jay Mageau, Mark Sanders, Clint Thompson, G-men racing and possibly
a couple others. To go along with at least 16 BB funny Cars and
we will have a huge event.

1:00am
update

A
couple big events are up this weekend on the West Coast. Plus two events
from two of the major sanctioning bodies back East. This weekend at Seattle
is the West Coast Shootout. This race features Outlaw 10.5 (Paja Agatonovic's
effort) racing the 1/4 mile and Outlaw 275 running 1/8th mile. Hopefully
the weather improves for Saturday and Sunday. At Woodburn, there is also
a small tire event. It is the Summer Series event put together by Greg
Hindman. The 10.5 race is 1/8 mile in length.

The
PDRA is back racing after a month off. A few Canadian's are competing.
Mike Gondziola ran career bests in the second and third qualifiers Friday
in Pro Nitrous. After an early season nitrous booker at the first race
he attended, he laid down a 3.83/194 best shot to qualify in the middle
of the pack. Scott Blake ran a 3.86 for his best effort on Friday. He
is also running Pro Nitrous. Barry Daniluk is running in Top Sportsman
and he ran a 4.05 best.

The
NHRA is in Englishtown this weekend for the biggest NHRA event in the
North East. Beside the Pro Classes, Pro Mod is there. Danny Rowe leads
with a 5.823/249. Rickie Smith is #2 with a 5.843/250. Canadian's are
there competing as well in Pro Mod and Eric Latino tops the 'North of
the Border gang". He ran a 5.941, good enough for the 12th spot in
the field. Jim Bell and Kenny Lang both struggled Friday.

There
will be a celebration of life for Keith (NOPI) Vahle Saturday June
18th at Mission Raceway at 6:30. If any racers and friends would
like to email us we are putting a few photos and words together
for a memorial page for Keith. Send your stories and photos to speedzone1@shaw.ca.

Here
is an update on the injured crew guy Mark Larson after Saturdays unfortunate
top end incident. Firstly, the Ken Gilmour TAD left before the tree was
started and in talking to driver John Leach, the reason that happened
was because he saw the starter point with one finger. He thought that
meant he was on a single. When if fact the starter was holding his hand
out to keep him from moving further forward as the car in the other lane
was being checked over by their crew chief. Being a new driver and likely
being very amped up for what would have been his first run against a racer
in the other lane probably contributed to the starting line issue. According
to Leach on the top end when his car was rounding the second turn-off
the car felt like it hit a bump and sort of jumped sideways. That is when
it rolled over and slid into Lloyd Flatum's pits. The crew guy hurt was
Mark Larson ex Super Comp racer. He had just turned over his car to his
daughter Amanda but he and Amanda were crewing this past weekend. When
the car slid on its side it struck Larson. I had reported that he was
taken to the hospital and then released but in fact he did not go to the
hospital. When he returned home to Washington State, he did get medical
attention. From Amanda, "He went to the doctor Monday to find
out that his upper arm has a subdural hematoma with a potential muscle
impact hematoma. They did x-rays for his upper body and found out that
he has a compression fracture on his T4 vertebrae and will be getting
an MRI for further information". Hopefully the MRI turns out
to be not too serious and we wish Mark well and hopes he is back to the
track soon.

9:00am
Update

The
Rocky Mountain Funny Car assoc from Edmonton had their first event of
the year this past weekend and for the first time in a decade (other that
the Rocky Mountain Nationals), The group will run their Edmonton events
with the IBAA and the "ACE" blown alcohol group. In the Final
it was veteran Funny Car driver Joey Steckler and hired shoe Troy Sitko
in the Ace Altered. Sitko took the win in a close final.

We're
posting the Beckman video from the NHRA Epping event (New England Nationals)
last Saturday only because this is one time when you might not
say, " day at the track is better than a any day at work"

June
8, 2016

11:30
pm update:

Sorry
but there will be a bit of a delay in in the Top Alcohol, Comp and TS/TD
classes write-ups and photos. Look for them on Thursday.

4:00pm
update

More
photos and semi final and final round write ups are added from the Sportsman
(Super Stock, Stock, the Super classes, Bike and Brackets) final rounds
at the Lordco BC Nationals. Go
here to see top end photos. Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Comp and
Top Alcohol photos and late round write-ups will be posted Wednesday evening
as well as an update of the TAD top end crash incident and injury update
to the pit side crew member Mark Larson.

June
7, 2016

Final
round photos for all classes are now posted from the Lucas Oil event at
Mission Raceway. Click on the page links below for all the starting line
photos. Semi finals and top end final round shots will be posted Wednesday.

I
guess Clint Thompson did not get TRUMPED
by the competition. He got the last say in this crazy weekend in
the TAFC class. Clint gets the win almost unopposed as Mike Doushgounian
was off the throttle by 300 feet in the final round. Thompson slowed
substantially in the final (
5.77/256) compared
to his 5.60 in the semi finals. But he was more than half a track
length ahead at the finish line.

And
in what was almost a perfect ending for all the Canadian fans of
Shawn Cowie, he wins pretty much without a battle as well, when
Joey Severance goes up in smoke in the final round. Severance was
clearly the favourite in SpeedZone Magazine's eye's, after low ET
in each of the first two rounds. Severance even went almost 275
mph in his round one win. Shawn's car did all it could to give the
team fits in both round one and two. If there was an opponent for
Shawn in round one we would not be having this conversation. Shawn's
car broke on the starting line in round one. In round two Gingles
went up in smoke and Shawn was done by 590 feet. We are having this
conversation simplly because the Mundies team overcam adversety
and they had luck on their side. For that I say good on them, they
deserve to win in front of their home fans.

Three
drivers living within 10 miles of the track took home bracket wins.
Jim Behnke won (Red Light) Pro Bracket over Maple Ridge's John Tabak.

Dan
Provost won his 3rd race on the weekend. It wasn't Top Dragster
or Top Sportsman like he wanted, but he got the win in Super Pro
over an always tough Zack Liston.

And
in Super Street, Martin Jackman got his first Wally in an NHRA Sportsman
class. he defeated multi -time Divisional winner Josh Dalrymple.

Francesca
Giroux got her first win in Top Dragster when she defeated past Divisional
champion Paul Nero. "Frankie" had four feet on her opponent
at the finish line.

Brian Hyerstay
won going away as Bruce Perkin was well back at the finish line. The Perkin
team had a great run as they got by much quicker teams to reach the final.

Taylor Cowie,
the wife of Shawn Cowie, the TAD winner, got to be in the winner's circle
twice as her dad Marc also won on Sunday. He took the Super Comp Wally
over Yeshua Wilcox with a 7thou package.

Multi time
winner Mike Ferderer won Top Sportsman over 'Grandpa' Rod Andreas. Brad
Burton won Stock over Ryan Warter and Joe Sorenson won Super Stock over
Troy Olsonawski. Finally in Motorcycle, Jake Havens defeated Doug Schuman.
The full report will be a work in progress over the next couple days.

3:45
pm update

The
BC Lordco Nationals are almost down to the finals in all classes the full
report will be posted over the next couple days but for now it is Shawn
Cowie and Joey Severance in the final round of TAD. Joey has the big advantage
going into the final as he has made two flawless runs including a 5.28
at a whooping 274.97. Shawn has had two troubled runs but is in the final
and will be the overwhelming fan favourite. In TAFC, it is Mike Doushgounian
and The TRUMPSTER. Clint Thompson found some magic starting in round one
when the defending champion Greg Hunter went .003 red. In the semi finals,
Thompson got the bye run and turned his weekend around performance wise
with a stellar 5.60/260. Will he TRUMP the field in about 45 minutes we
will see. In Top Sportsman is is Mike Ferderer Lloyd Flatum and Rod Andreas
left. In Comp it is local Bruce Perkin with a bye to the final round and
Ryan Warter against Brian Hyerstay battling. More to come soon.

11:00am
update:

A
tough opening round for a number of local racers in a number of classes.
After back to back wins in TD and TS shootouts Saturday Dan Provost was
first round fodder for John Chitwood and Lee Goransen. Zak Clarke was
a first round duck as well as he lost to Daryl Hemley. Kirk Lanz lost
in Top SPortsman as did Joe Mellof. All four of the local drivers were
solid favorites to reach later rounds. Mission Point leader Bradee Lowe
lost in Super Pro. Provost did come back and win round one in Super Pro.
In other Top Dragster round one news Kelowna's Dane Lachelt a regular
NW Outlaw competitor ran too quick and is gone and John Evans had starting
line isses and he to is a first round runner-up.

In
Comp Eliminator, Bruce Perkin got a freebie and advanced and Terry Spargo
also advanced with his win over Dino Kost. The big upset in round one
was seeing Brandon Huhtala go red against Ryan Warter.

9:00am
update

The
Elite Belts WDRL Pro Mod Friday and Saturday qualifying and elimination's
story is
posted. All the photos for the Pro Mod part of the weekend's race
will be posted later Sunday. Thanks to SK Auto, Rocko's Diner, Herd Haven
Games and Doyle Racing.

June
4, 2016

11:45
pm update

A
very hot and wild day at Mission Raceway was completed by 8:30 pm with
all the shootouts determined and ladders set for round one of eliminations
ready to go. There were not too many delays just the usual 10 minute ones
here and there and one unfortunate scary one that luckily did not end
up with any major injuries. In the final TAD qualifier John Leach fresh
off his licensing the day before got a little rattled on the starting
line bringing up his RPM's and launching his car before Kim Parker was
even staged. He left one what likely was a solid 5.50 pass or even better
but of course got no time, In the shutdown area he had too much speed
and tried to make the second to last turnoff carrying way to much speed.
His car went sideways and turned on its side in a sportsman pit area,
striking a crew member as it came to a rest. People in the area, turned
the car back onto its wheels and then tended to the injured person (a
member of Lloyd Flatum's TS team). Leach also needed to be looked at but
was released by ambulance crew. The injured person was taken to the local
hospital but was released with a few decent cuts and contusions. It was
a lucky ending on what could have been way more serious ending.
For the rest of the weekend that exit will be barricade off and probably
the same for future event where that area is necessary for pit usage.

Shawn Cowie Leads Top Alcohol Dragster with a 5.30/272.

Greg Hunter is # 2 in TAFC witha 5.67. Mike Doushagonian is the
leader with a 5.62/259

Local
driver Dan Provost showed his ability with local track knowledge
as he took both final round wins in the Shootouts Saturday. He defeated
Joe Mellof in the Top Sportsman shootout and Gordie Castle in the
Top Dragster shootout. Mike Shannon won the Super Gas Shootout (triple
zip in the final) over Ken Heard, John Dalrymple won in Super Street
over Steve Laskowske and Tom Clarke won Super Comp over Ed Hauter.
In Comp, Brian Hyerstay is the #1 qualifier with an .813 under best
Brandon Huhtala is #2. Terry Spargo is the best local, going .59
under and running a 6.633 best. Quentin
Chambers stayed #1 with his 6.011 from Friday. Dane Lachelt was
the quickest BC driver, as he went 6.354 in round four, the first
session on Saturday. There are a total of 18 cars in the 6's in
TD and it is the biggest field Mission has ever had in the class.
Mike Williams is the best in Top Sportsman. He ran 6.9's all weekend
and his friday run of 6.909 topped the 17 car field. Only two cars
ran in the 6's.
All the Comp, Top Dragster and Top Sportsman numbers
are posted here.

In
Super Stock, the field is lead by Cody Lane. He ran a 1.06 under 8.58.
Sean Cour is #2. The leading Canadian is Red Deer's Caitlin Setters. Mission's
Jim Isherwood leads the BC drivers with a .9 under 9.28 in his Hemi powered
Belverdere. Billy Aiken leads Motorcycle with a .001 reaction time. GO
here for all the Sportsman class action.

For
the Pro Mod Action presented by Elite Belts, it was Garrett Richards
earning the win against Ken Sihota. All three top qualifiers were
ousted in round one. The
full stary will be posted on the Pro Mod pgae before noon Sunday.

It
was a pretty good start for the official first day of the Lordco BC Nationals
on Friday. Shawn Cowie leads TAD with a 5.30/272 and Mike Doushgounian
leads TAFC with a 5.62/257.

Gerry
Frechette photo

Quentin Chambers
ran 6.011 in TD and Mike Williams is on top in TS with a 6.90. In Comp
it is Brian Hyerstay on top at .812 under. a Couple brushes with the wall
today as Howie Stevens scrapped the right side of his Mustang and in a
weird one Glen Iggulden brushed the Christmas tree base (photo above)
when his car went hard right. The full report and photos Saturday morning.

All was a
starting line official at Mission Raceway, Eagle Motorplex and Port Alberni
over the last two decades. He had a great sense of humor and was a real
hard worker on the front line. Al will sorely be missed.

une
3, 2016

A pretty
interesting test day yesterday for the Lordco BC Nationals at Mission
Raceway. The on track activity did not get underway until 2:00pm
due to early wet conditions but when it did get underway the track
was a bit loose. by 4:00pm the scenario turned into a very fast
tight track. The only weird aspect is that the Top Alcohol teams
struggled with the track conditions. Defending champion Greg Hunter
ad the Synoil team had it figured out as they ripped off a 5.60/261,
easily their best ever effort in Canada. I believe that is the team's
best ever speed as well.

John
Leach driving Ken Gilmour's TAD is finishing off his licensing this
weekend and he went 5.80/233. He has one more run I believe (and
then he become a new player in the series.

Possibly
the biggest story in Top Alcohol this weekend though comes from
the Greg Sereda 'Canadian Tire' TAD team. Beside the big news that
Jeff Johnston is tuning the car this weekend, Jeff had great success
tuning Hugh Ridley's TAD to one of the quickest ever for a blown
combo, a 5.263/270. Greg and wife Elaine put son Shelby in the car
this spring. He made a few hits in Edmonton, and Thursday ripped
off an early shut off 5.89 at only 183 mph. If all goes well today
Shelby will have his license and will compete against some of the
best in the class. Oh ya, he just turned 17 two days ago, and was
driving a Jr Dragster last year. We are planning a feature this
weekend on Shelby. Going from the very young to a true grizzled
veteran of Top Alcohol racing, Roger Bateman is into his second
season as the tuner for Brian and Mindy Hough's top notch TAFC.
Roger has been doing this for at least 40 years and is one of the
best in the business. He will give the other end of the racing spectrum
with our second feature story this weekend.

The
Top Alcohol stories do not stop there though. With nic=ne cars entered
this weekend we will have a bump spot and the potential for it being
quick are pretty good. Five of the cars are Alfuel and four are
the Blown variety. All are capable of 5.40's or better. Kim Parker
and the Parker family racing team add to the TAD story as she will
be behind the wheel of an A/Fuel car. The Rick Henkelman team with
GArrett Bateman as the primary driver have added a second car (an
ex Duane Shields car). Kim Will be competing in A/Fuel for the first
time. The family did build a car with an A/Fuel combination a couple
years ago, but it did not get to the point where it was a competitive
venture.

All
our coverage of the Lucas oil classes this weekend's will be sponsored
by Edmonton's Top Eliminator series.

Comp
Eliminator will have a number of solid teams in attendance but it
is not the way it was e ven five years ago. 10-15 teams will be
competing and local talent Terry Spargo made agreat lap in his A/AP
Cavalier. He ripped off a 6.56/211 putting him .663 under the index.

Brandon
Huhtala was the best under the number as he went .7 under with a
7.23/190. Top Dragster saw over a dozen guys and gals hit the racing
surface, the same with Top Dragster. There should be close to 18-20
TS cars and hopefully over 30 in the TAD class.

Finally
we end Thursday's short recap with a very cool photo. Kelowna's
Mike Shannon is ready to try and improve on his 2015 season as you
can see there is only one spot he can go if he infact was to better
his season last year. The very nice #2 on his scopp. Good Luck Mike,
it won't be easy.

Wednesday
at MRP saw a handful of cars testing and/or completing licensing.
Justin Bond in his new Top Sportsman Camaro was the main player
as he made his first hits in his RH built ride. Justin and his company
JBS ltd. are the title sponsor of the class for the 2016 season.
He made three or four runs and ran soft mid to high sevens. It will
be a six second player when all is sorted out.

Crew
member Cole also made a few runs in the team Top Dragster. Cole
ripped off a 7.06 best.

Chris
McGraa was also out for the first time in his new small tire 275
Mustang. It's hard to believe a car looking so stock has the ability
to run in the sevens. Chris made a number of short laps getting
a handle on what the twin turbo car can handle. His last run was
a 800 foot 8.55 at 145 mph. if he was on the loud pedal to the stripe
it would have been a low 8 at well over 170 mph.

Rusty
(forget his last name) completed his licensing in his Procharged
Top Dragster. His best was a 7.10. Today will see a couple hundred
cars enter the facility as well as a full test day if the weather
is good. The overall forecast is for awesome weather Friday, Saturday
and Sunday with real warm temperatures, but today sees a couple
showers as the ridge of high pressure starts to build.

A few
of the eight car field Pro Mods will be testing today as well as
a bunch of the Alcohol Funny Cars and Dragsters. The Dragster field
is the best in close to a decade as there are five or six cars that
have run in the 5.20's. Two more have been or are capable of 5.30's
so we should have a record bump spot. Funny Car has a handful of
5.60 cars or better. The Divisional story here at SpeedZone does
have a title sponsor and it will be announced later today.

The
entire Pro Mod story will have its own web page this weekend and
all the coverage for the Pro Mods is sponsored by Elite Belts. The
Sponsors for the Pro Mods are SK Auto, Rocko's Diner, Nerd Haven
Games and Doyle Racing.

June
1, 2016

Today
is the first parking day for the Lordco BC Nationals. Parking begins
at noon, but a number of team have already filed in. We will start
our weekend preview tonight with Top Alcohol and Pro Mods.

May
31, 2016

10:00pm
update

Sad
news today as local racer Keith Vahle died suddenly yesterday. Keith
was a huge racing fan and a solid competitor. He was particularly
drawn to heads up small tire racing and was a avid competitor Friday
nights at the Street legal events and had competed regularly and
was a strong proponent of the Open Comp class. His wheelstanding
S-10 Blazer was one of the most exciting local race cars to watch.
RIP Keith.

9:00am
update

Despite
the economic isses throughout Canada and the US, and dwindling numbers
at Race Tracks all over, there is a bunch of new builds even in our area.
As posted below the new cars for Chris McGraa and Ken Christensen, plus
two or three that were debuting this past weekend (before the rain hit)
for the Canada West Doorslammers, new car builds seem to be solid. Another
new one that will be out comes from a past local racer Mike Enns: Here
is the exclusive first look of the project to Speedzone Magazine,

I
am sending you the exclusive first sneak peek of the final rendering
of my new Street Legal Chevy S-10 Xtreme stepside truck. Scheme &
Design by Stu Wotypka. It has been a long 5+ year build and is nearing
completion. It is going out for final paint/powdercoat etc and then
reassembled ready for the street and track this summer.

A little
about the truck;

I was
inspired by the early pro-mod trucks of Glen Kerunsky, Joe Delahay,
Rick Distefano, and of course Glen May. My goal was to have a street
legal truck (always had cars & wanted a truck) that I could
drive to the track, local car shows & cruises. It was primarily
built to run events like HotRod drag week, WestCoast drag weekend
and local Northwest drag race events. Initially, I started to build
this truck to try and lay claim to the fastest street legal truck
at drag week, but was up-ended last year when Larry Larson brought
out his 5s truck. So Ive lowered my expectations for now to
maybe lay claim to Canadas fastest truly street legal truck
title. My objective is to run low 7s at 200mph in a truly
street legal truck that would offer some of the comforts and performance
of a muscle car with all the creature comforts (power windows, cruise,
tilt, adj.suspension, elect.overdrive, stereo, custom adj. race
seats etc).

It
has been a collaboration with Blair Gehman of Gehman Chassisworks
in Chilliwack. He has designed a custom suspension that will adequately
manage track duties while having the ability to give me a very good
street ride (including corners). We managed to get chassis inspection
without the typical truck bars through the back windshield. Current
power comes from a 1,700hp 572 cid fuel injected, w/water-meth and
2 stages NOS, typical TH400 gear vendor for street duties. Eventual
plans are to swap it out for a big inch Proline w/twins and to get
into the 6s after the first season or two of driving.

It
has been a long time since I frequented the track with my first
ride (a brite yellow super pro Monte Carlo SS), and then my pro-mod
chevy Beretta back in the late 90s, Ive spent the last
15 years working on my business (Crown Door), So it is now timae
again! I expect to hit the streets sometime this summer, and make
it to the track shortly after. I will compete in some CWDS events
(look for me to drive-in, qualify well, compete, & drive home),
& Street/Doorcar events at and maybe some Fri nite street legals
at MRP, and of course Hot-Rods Drag Week event.

May
30, 2016

Dept
of Corrections: Sorry for the incorrect
post about the Pro Mod elimination's (posted below) at this weekend rescheduled
Pro Mod event, they are on Saturday not Sunday. The Pro Mods expected
include Joe Delehay, Jay Syvertsen, Garrett Richards, Kerry Stone, Darryl
Stone, Jeff Doyle, Craig Cawte, Dale Pedersen, Paul Glandon, Glen Kerunsky
and Keith Korecki. We are proud to have Elite
Belts on board as the Official sponsor of all our coverage of this
weekend's WDRL Pro Mod race. Cathy and Tom Meheden are regular competitors
in the Pro Mod class, but with all the changes they are making for the
2016 season, the car will not quite be ready. The Sponsors for the Pro
Mods are
SK Auto, Rocko's Diner, Nerd Haven Games and Doyle Racing.

Why
spend $50.00 plus on shipping your belts back to the US for recertification
and then pay shipping and recertifying costs to return them to you?
Then there is the added turnaround time and border crossing. Some
manufacturers no longer recertify their product, but Elite Belts
recertifies their own product in a timely manner. All this saves
you money in the form of shipping, duty, taxes not to mention the
US dollar exchange.

We
ship anywhere in Alberta, BC or Saskatchewan for $15.00. Check out
our complete line of products on FaceBook. Website coming soon.
Contact us at elitebelts@gmail.com, (403) 453 2822 or (403) 277
0121.

News
on another front has the Division Six event this weekend at MRP looking
like a full field of Top Alcohol Dragsters and close to a full field of
Top Alcohol Funny Cars. This will be the first time in a half decade or
more we have a full field of cars for the "Lordco BC Nationals".
The list for TAD include Local hero Shawn Cowie, He is very solid this
year with a Season Opening win at the Winternationals. He currently site
#5 in the world standings. World Champion Joey Severance is leading the
points again this year and he has two National wins and a divisional win
(and a runner-up) already this year. Garrett Batemen has run low 5.20's
this year and been to two semis finals. Winnipeg's Gord Gingles returns
after a three or four year lay off from West Coast competition. He ran
career bests (at the time) when he was here at Mission and he also run
low 5.20's, Johnny Ahten is scheduled to return to Mission His car is
a bit hit and misss but when it is on, he is bad-azz. Meghan McKernan
has not confirmed her entry, but I did hear Mission was on the team's
list. Kim Parker is back after a few years away from TAD racing. she is
rumored to be in an A/Fuel car now, as a team mate to Garrett Bateman.
Greg Sereda is one of Canada's hope, and he usually runs a new career
best every time he races at MRP. Kenny Gilmour has a new driver for 2016
and it is John Leach. The Calgary based TAD can fly when their tune-up
is on. John will complete his licensing at Mission on Thursday and Friday.
There are even a couple others that could be here. In TAFC, the list includes
Defending two time champion Greg Hunter. He ran career best numbers earlier
this year. Clint Thompson, who should have won at Topeka two weekend ago
ran low 5.50's and will be looking to regain his dominance he had hear
five years ago. Brian Hough is always a threat and is looking for his
first win in Mission in a number of years. Randy Parker (or brother Russ)
will compete, Mike Doushgounian (California based) is one of three cars
racing at Mission for the first time. He has one of the baddest cars in
the country. It is an ex Frank Manzo car but he runs MBR power and has
been in the 5.40's. Chris Marshall (Oregon based) is in his second year
in TAFC (his own car is a blown Altered and he has competed here at the
Old Time drags) and has been in the 5.60's. The final newcomer is Chip
Beverett also from California. He has been in the 5.60 as well. I will
have a complete prognostication later in the week.

May
29, 2016

Well
it was not the weekend all racers and fans had hoped for. Precip affected
all three days and in the end a returning shower hit the track just as
the Jrs. were set to run down for their first time trial. The ugly weather
did stop, but the drying would have continued until at least 3:00pm which
would have been way to late for a race to run a qualifier and then eliminations.
Too bad, as there were a bunch of real cool cars out this weekend including
a handful of 275 Small Tire cars including Chris McGraa's new Mustang,
and Daniel Rodrigue's rework Chevy, the old Joe Delehay Chevy pick-up
Pro Mod (new owner Ken Christensen), A ProCharged RED from Fort St John,
and a few others.

The
good news is: The Pro Mods will return next weekend and will compete as
part of the Lordco BC Nationals. Their qualifying will take place on Friday
and then elimination's on Saturday. This weekend the fans get a huge bonus.
The NW Outlaws will re-schedule their race as a double header at one of
their other scheduled events, likely in August. The Doorslammers will
likely drop the event and make it a seven race schedule.

May
28, 2016

Locally
the weather does not look all that great for this weekend's WDRL
Pro Mod event at Mission Raceway. Sunday looks quite a bot better
than today, but lets try for some Sun Karma. This season MRP and
the WDRL would like to thank a few sponsors for their support in
hosting the Pro Mod events at MRP. From right here in Mission, Rocko's
Diner, From Abbotsford NERD
Haven Games, Simon Kingsley from Sechelt and a couple other
to be announced soon.

Kudos
go out to JBS (Justin Bond and Sons) for their sponsorship of the
NHA Division Six Top Sportsman class for the 2016 season. Justin
is close to debuting his new TS Camaro.

May
25, 2016

This
weekend is the first of what will be a very busy two months at Mission
Raceway. The Schedule sees the first of three Pro Mod events at
MRP as the WDRL starts its second season. There are a total of six
races that also include two stops in Edmonton and one at Spokane,
the series first foray into the US. This weekend there are close
to a dozen Nitrous, Turbo and blown cars looking to get their first
hits on the race track.

The
Canada West Doorslammers have their second stop in their eight race schedule.
Over 20 cars are expected. At the first race Kirk Lanz got the win over
Terry Langdon Davies.

The
NW Outlaws open their four race season this weekend as well. This series
includes Front Engined Dragsters, Funny Cars, Pro Mods, Rear Engined Dragsters
and Altereds. All the cars have some sort of power adder, including Blowers
nitrous and turbos. There are even a few nitro powered machines rumored
to be attending this year.

Following
the race this weekend Mission hosts the largest NHRA even in Canada, The
Lordco BC Nationals next weekend. One of six Divisional series events
in the NW and the only one in Canada. July sees three major events making
the next eight weekends the busiest in Mission Raceway History.

Last
weekend Norwalk results

National Champion Jonnie Lindberg raced to victory in Top Alcohol
Funny Car at the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series North Central
division Cavalcade of Stars presented by Budweiser event at Summit
Motorsports Park. The Swedish racer was behind at the tree but took
the win at the stripe in 5.580 seconds at 267.37 mph, earning the
trophy over local racer Tony Bogolo of Hamilton, Ohio. This is Lindbergs
second win of the season, his first being at the Circle K NHRA Wineternationals
in February.

Brandon
Booher, Urbana, Ill., was awarded the win in Top Alcohol Dragster
over Brandon Greco, Roscoe, Pa. Both racers were even at the start,
as Booher gained the lead and held off Grecos late run to
capture the win with a 5.413 second lap at 268.76 mph to Grecos
5.442, 264.49.

The
NHRA Harley-Davidson Drag Racing Series was also in action this weekend
with Jason Pridemore winning in Top Fuel Harley. Pridemore, Garretsville,
Ohio, ran in the mid six second range all weekend including a 6.496
second pass at 179.30 mph to defeat Tracy Kily, Ashoville, N.C., in
the final. Full final
round results are here.

May
24, 2016

Mission
Raceway made the big decision today for the Doorwarz IV event. The Outlaw
10.5 class will now be 1/8 mile. The entire class has learned towards
1/8 over the last few years, and with the top end tire issues (including
one of our regular competitors Mike Walterson at last years SCSN event)
and the SCSN event had way bigger numbers in 1/8th vs 1/4. Most of the
teams in the NW prefer that length as well. There are a few teams that
will be or are disappointed with the decision but MRP is hoping you all
understand the reasoning. There is one more 1/4 mile 10.5 event and that
is in 18 days at Seattle. Paja Agatonovic's West Coast Shootout.

May
22, 2016

The
Spokane LODRS was rained out today without any cars hitting the track
for elimination's. The race will be completed at Seattle in August the
Thursday before they host their Divisional event.

Topeka
completed their event this weekend with a number of repeat performances.
Doug Kalitta won in Top Fuel (third win in a row) over Antron Brown in
a pedal fest. The same thing happened in Funny Car, where Matt Hagan got
the win [pedaling the car for the 1320 against his team mate jack Beckman.
It was Hagan's second win in a row.

In
Pro Stock, it was team 'Summit' again sending two cars to the final round,
where it was Jason Line again earning the victory over his team mate Greg
Anderson. He is on the way to getting the most wins in a season. His win/loss
record this year is an outstanding 29-3. In TAD, Joey Severance won for
the second time this year. He defeated Megan Myers in the final round.
Jeff Jones won in TAFC over Clint ("Let's make America great again")
Thompson on a huge holeshot. Clint was a bit tardy on the tree and despite
his 5.57, he could not catch Jones who ran a 5.67.

10
-12 Pro Mods are expected next weekend at Mission Raceway for the first
WDRL event of the year. Drivers from BC, Alberta and Washington state
are expected to compete.

May
20, 2016

11:00pm
update

Wow
what a day for the fuel cars at Topeka. Favorable weather and an obviously
good track lead to HUGE numbers in Funny Car and a new record in Top Fuel
as well. Matt Hagan was on a tear Friday as he set both marks with an
outstanding 3.862/at 335 mph. Seven Funny Car went faster than 330 mph
and six were quicker than the old ET record. Jack Beckman and Tim Wilkerson
also ran in the 3.86 zone with Courtney Force and Alexis DeJoria just
a tick back with 3.87's. In Top Fuel Brittany Force shattered the et record
with a 3.676/325. Only one Top Fuel car ran 330 or faster and that was
#2 qualifier Doug Kalitta (3.701/330.88).

In
Pro Stock it is Jason Line on top with a 6.578/210mph. Bo Butner and Greg
Anderson are #'s 2 and 3. Chris Demke leads TAD with a 5.28 and Nick Janiuk
leads TAFC with a career best 5.49.

At
Norwalk Jared Dreher is on top in TAD and no numbers from TAFC yet.

At
Dallas the PDRA finished Friday qualifying with less than stellar numbers
in all the classes as the forecasted weather is not was welcomed by the
racers Friday. It was much more humid. No Canadians are in the Pro Boost
or Nitrous classes. Terry Schwiegert from Abbotsford is the lone Canuck.
He sits $5 after three rounds of qualifying.

Most
of the updates will be done on Sunday as Saturday I will be out of town
and without internet.

8:00am
update

This
weekend has drag racing in the PDRA as that association hits Dallas for
their third race of the year. Weather is forecasted to be cool but decent
so the cars should fly. The NHRA is in Topeka for the Kansas Nationals.
The Lucas Oil Divisional series is also busy with the Spokane Divisional
this weekend and the famed "Cavalcade of Stars" event at Norwalk's
Summit Motorsport park. This is THE biggest Divisional event in the 44
race schedule and it routinely packs the 40,000 seat facility. Admission
is only 9.95 for adults and kids are free. Besides all the LODRS classes,
Nitro Harleys and Jet cars highlight the weekend. And did we mention the
fireworks. Speedzone will be covering both the LODRS events this weekend.
Here
are all the details for the Norwalk event.

The
Spring Fling tradition continues this week on the East Coast at Bristol
Tenn. In the Tuesday opener where the winner and Runner-up both win RED's,
Sean Serra and Michael Paschal faced off in the final round. It was Paschal
getting the win and the Racecraft Dragster while Serra got the American
Race Cars dragster.

On
Wednesday, the Yukon Gear & Axle 15,000 race reached the quarterfinal
round, seven drivers remained. Tommy Cable by virtue of his reaction time
was the recipient of the bye run. Jeremy York defeated Larry Ericksmoen.
Kevin Brannon took out Joe Gary. Jeff Serra lit the redlight to advance
Johnny Ezell to the semifinals.

The first
half of the semis involved dragster (Cable) against Brannons door
car with Cable taking a tight win. The second half also involved another
dragster versus door car, this time with Gary defeating Ezell.

For $15,000
to win, York started it off with a .008 reaction time advantage over Cable,
but when you run dead-on the dial with a zero, it was tough to beat Tommy
Cable. Cable was last years points champion and he is quickly becoming
a part of Spring Fling lore.

Yesterday's
race was bumped up to $50,000 to win due to impending weather and they
decided to combine the Thursday and Friday races. They were sponsored
by FTI and Optima Batteries. At the round of eight, the racers left were
NHRA Super Comp champion Kevin Brannon, Bruce Combs, Aaron Vail, Tom Dauber,
Allen Byrd, Adam Bochon, Marie Muller, and Chris Reynolds, with Combs
and Vail all driving actual door cars and Brannon in his Super Gas roadster.
For the quarterfinal, Vail and Brannon squared off to end the hopes of
one door car which happened to be Brannon, moving Vail on to the semifinals.
Combs kept the door cars alive with a win over Byrd. Dauber defeated Reynolds
and finally Muller took the win when Bochon redlighted.

In the semifinals,
Combs defeated Muller and Vail took out Dauber. Over 300 racers took to
the track today with roughly 30-percent of them being door cars. Odds
always seem to be in the favor for dragsters, but Combs and Vail are taking
exception to that and will be racing for $50,000 to win with their door
cars.

In the final,
both racers were stellar on the Christmas tree with only .001 separating
them. But it was Combs closer to the dial that scored him his biggest
win in 48 years of racing.

This
is unbelievable, said Combs. To score one for the door guys
and the old guys is pretty cool. I know one thing, forget Disneyworld;
Im going to the Spring Fling Million next year!

May
17, 2016

Kudos
go out to Dan Provost and the RAD team for helping the BMH Pro Mod team
with repairs after the unfortunate incident Friday at Atlanta. Hopefully
the car is back soon and Shane recovers quickly so the team can get back
to the action. I don't think there is a tougher class to compete in or
a tougher car to drive period.

May
16. 2016

Matt
Hagan got a long waited win in Funny Car at Atlanta. He defeated an up
in smoke teammate Jack Beckman. Courtney Force hold onto the point lead
with a semi final finish. Beckman jumped into second place and Tim Wilkerson
dropped down to third. The race in Funny Car is epic. Doug Kalitta defeated
his team mate JR Todd on a holeshot The actual margin of victory to the
10,000's of a second was a dead heat, .0000 The winner had to be determined
to the 100,000ths of a second. The margin is the closest in NHRA history.
That makes back to back wins for Kalitta and the lead in the points standings.
Antron Brown is second and Brittany Force is third. The points lead has
gone back and forth this season and is one of the closest battles in a
number of years. In Pro Stock, the Summit team again dominated the event
and Jason Line defeated Greg Anderson in the final on a holeshot. Anderson
appeared to be a bit soft on the tree today and was lucky to get past
round one against Kenny Delco who would have defeated Anderson but went
.007 red. The extra HP the team is making is making up for any starting
line deficiencies this year though. Line has almost double the closest
racer (Drew Skillman) not running Summit power. Will the Elite team and
others have their stuff tuned up by the Countdown, if not the season is
already done. Eddie Krawiec defeated Jerry Savioe in the PS Motorcycle
final round. Krawiec is already six round ahead of his nearest competitor,
team mate Andrew Hines just three races into the 2016 season.

Rickie
Smith defeated the #15 qualifier Kevin Fiscus in the final round in Pro
Modified. Smith has been dominant so far this year, racing in all three
finals and earning two victories. He is more than doubled his nearest
competitor in points (Danny Rowe sits in second place).

This
coming weekend is the Spokane Divisional up here in the NW then the following
weekend Mission Raceway hosts the WDRL for
the for their first Promod race of the season. The Canada West Doorslammers
and the NW Outlaws are also competing in two weeks at MRP it should be
a great weekend up here just across the border.

May
15, 2016

In
round one from Atlanta, all the winners in Top Fuel and Funny car came
from the right lane except Del Worsham. He won (as the slower qualified
car in the left lane against point leader Tim Wilkerson. All the winners
made 3 second ets. The top fuel winners were all 3.76 or quicker. Pro
Stock and Pro Stock motorcycle winners were split between lanes.

May
14, 2016

This
weekend at the Summit Nationals at Atlanta the NHRA made four draws for
the Summit ET finals. In those drawings, an extra competitor in Super
Pro, Pro, Sportsman and Motorcycle to fill 8 car fields (instead of the
previous 7 cars field). Division Six was drawn to field the extra Super
Pro competitor. That competitor will come from the winner of the Sunday
team champions race in the Super Pro class.

Final
top qualifiers in the Pro classes were Jack Beckman (his 3.939 from Friday
held up), Matt Hagan and Courtney Force are #2 and 3. In Top Fuel, Doug
Kalitta remained on top, as his Friday run of 3.736 stays as the best
run. Richie Crampton and JR Todd are #2 and 3. In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson
is #1 and his team mates Jason Line and Bo Butner are #2 and 3. In Pro
Mod Rickie Smith remained on top after his 5.781. Troy Coughlin is #2
with a 5.806 and Khalid al-Balooshi is #3 with a 5.816. Canadian's Kenny
Lang and Eric Latino made the field. Edmonton's Jim Bell failed to improve
in the final session as he rattled the tires. His 6.08 best was good enough
for the #18 spot. In round one Pro Mod action, Smith was the only driver
who ran in the 5.8's in the round and he advanced to round two. Kenny
Lang won his race against Von Smith, Erica Latino lost. Doug Winter, Balooshi,
Steve Matusek, Pete Farber, Kevin Fiscus and Michael Beihle also advanced.

May
12, 2016

Not
good news out of Atlanta today as the Molinari/Bond/Hinrichsen Pro Mod
team were in an unlucky situation in round two of qualifying. Shane was
alongside Steven Whiteley and had to pedal the car around 250 feet. He
got back on the throttle but was a bit behind Whiteley when Whitely had
issues at the stripe, his car was real loose and crossed into Shane's
lane with the chutes out. There was quite a bit of smoke coming from Whiteley's
car and Shane got hard on the brakes trying to avoid him. The shutdown
is quite rough at Atlanta and the car bounced hard turn right with the
chutes out and Shane hit the wall. It looked like a glancing blow, but
the hit was hard enough to do a bunch of damage and the impact also caused
a couple broken ribs. There is a video on Facebook posted by Josh Givens
(watching the FS1feed). Here
is the link. It is too early to say what the team is going to do,
and luckily Shane was not hurt too bad. The car will need serious mending
if in fact that is what they decide. One thing the team does want to do
is thank RAD Torque Systems, Artek Barn Solutions, their many other sponsors,
and the fans for all their support and well wishes. Here at Speedzone
are here for your team Shane. Get well, cars can be repaired or replaced.

Rickie
Smith leads the class with a 5.78 and three Canadian teams are currently
qualified. Eric Latino Kenny Lang and Jim Bell are all in the field after
two rounds of qualifying.

Top
Fuel is lead by Doug Kalitta. His 3.73 tops the field. Only 15 cars have
made attempts so far. In Funny Car, it is Jack Beckman on top with a 3.930.
16 cars have made qualifying runs. Pro Stock has 14 cars and the Summit
team is on top again. Greg Anderson and Jason Line are #1 and #2. In PS
Motorcycle, Angelle Sampey is on top with a 6.865. Andrew Hines is #2.

May
9, 2016

Full
weekend final round results from Mission Raceway are
posted. Final round photos are included

May
8, 2016

9:00pm
update

Kirk
Lanz wins the first Doorslammer event of the year on a great weekend at
Mission Raceway. Terry Langdon Davies is the runner-up. In the sportsman
ranks, John Tabak wins in two different classes over the weekend. He takes
the Pro win over 2015 champ Jim Benhke on Saturday and then takes the
Sportsman win on Sunday over Randy Hermsen. Martin Rachel wins Saturday
in Super Pro over Kevin McNicol and Bradee Lowe wins Sunday over Zack
Liston. Sydney Jung was in the final both days in Jr Thunder as was Ceil
Gagnon. Both won one race. The only undefeated driver so far this year
is Darien Provost. In three races he has three wins. Way to go buddy!
Other winners this weekend include Al Omond, Matt MacKay Smith, Pat Byron,
Emily Girard, Kevin McNabb, Ross Walker, Ron Clarke and Larry Rhodenizer.
Full results and final round photos from both days will be posted Monday.

7:00am
update

Mision Raceway Saturday action:

Ciel
Gagnon earned her first trophy with a runner-up in Jr Thunder.Way
to go Ciel

Sasha
Mercer debuted her Jr Thunder Dragster this weekend. Good luck this
season!

Quentin
Chambers has his Blown Top Dragster ready to go for the 2016 season
after a 6.06/228 Saturday.

Kirk
Lanz has his Camaro back from after a redo. Thanks to Tony and Jay.
What a nice new look!!

Rod
Leclair leads the Doorslammers with a career best 6.82/202

Katie
Brown is the new Social Media director for Mission Raceway. Get
the MRP name out there Katie!

May
6, 2016

Apparently
Wally Duperon was messing with me when I asked him who would be
the new Division Six starter.He said would know at Bremerton this
weekend at the National Open. In fact he was named as the starter
for Division Six. Congrats Wally.

May
5, 2016

10:00pm
update

This
weekend looks to be a good one locally, as the Canada West Doorslammers
compete at their first points race of the year. Notable for the Doorslammer
series is they will allow racers to double up on Sundays and compete in
two classes. A few Pro Mod teams are rumored to be testing this weekend
as well. I heard that Rick DiStefano has tested already and gone 260 mph.
With three Pro Mod races at Mission this year, it will be an exciting
doorcar season.

6:00pm
update

As
expected by everyone up here in the NW, Division Six produces the
second Official Starter for the NHRA Mello Yello series. Mike Gittings
was annouced todayas the guy who gets to fill Mark Lyles shoes.
They are huge shoes to fill.

Congratulations
to Mike they picked a very good starter to take the job left by
the sudden passing of Mark Lyle.

May
1, 2016

A
wild weekend at Houston comes to a close with the season's fourth win
by a female in the Nitro ranks, as Courtney Force takes out the most dominant
racer in the class over the last two races. Tim Wilkerson ran low et every
round until the final, where the Force juggernaut pulled a rabbit out
of its arsenal. In Top Fuel, a massive fireball in round one by Terry
(can't I ever catch a break) McMillen against Tony Schumacher highlighted
the day, and then Doug Kalitta went on to win the race over #1 qualifier
Steve Torrence. The Summit team won again, Greg Anderson got his third
of the season. Their two drivers have been in a combined nine final rounds
out of the first six races and Jason Line (this weekend's runner-up has
been in all six finals.

Here
is McMillen's wild ride:

In Pro Mod, the wild weekend continued into the final round, with the
third crash of the weekend happening to a veteran of the class Rickie
Smith. It was so wild the winner Jim Whiteley stopped on the track (at
half track) as he watched Smith cross back and forth from one wall to
the other right in front of him. In TAFC, the winner also got no time,
Steve Gasparelli did not even have to stage the car as the guy he should
have raced against in the final, Brian Hough, have his car die on a single
in the semis during the burnout. In TAD it was a first time winner for
a long time veteran Lee Callaway. He defeated world champion Joey Severance,
who's car died before half track.

At
Boise it was Bucky Austin ripping off 5.60's in all three rounds Sunday
including a 5.69 in the final against Dan Horan Jr. Horan slowed to a
7 second time slip after a 5.67/259 in the semis. Ryan Hodgson lost to
Horan in that semi final. The other semi finalist was Don Hudson.

BC
racer Steve Lowe won Super Street with a solid .020 package. He defeated
Steve Laskowske. Jeff Lane defeated a red lighting Ralph Van Paepegham
in Comp. Brian Phillips won Top Sportsman over Bryan Warr. Warr defeated
Mission's Zak Clarke in the semis. After winning the shoot-out Saturday
Dan Provost went red in round one. Clarke went .003 red. In Top Dragster
it wasn't a three peat for DAbbotsford's Dan Provost, he went .001 red
in round one. The winner was Div 6's Ken Nelson. In Super Stock the Wally
went to Terry Anderson over Sean Cour. In Stock it was Bill Bushmaker
taking the win over Brad Burton. Super Comp was won by Tanner Theobold.
Super Gas Wally winner was Ray Cordeiro, and finally Motorcycle was won
by Doug Schumann over a red light Travis Patridge.

April
30, 2016

Qualifying
is complete at Boise and the Saturday Shoot-outs are also complete.
Dan Provost won the Top Sportsman shoot-out in his new S-10 Pick-up.
He defeated Mike Williams in the final round. He is qualified #19
in the 23 car field and races Ken Ratzloff in round one. Zak Clarke
races Jake Neibauer in round one. In Top Dragster Provost finished
seventh in qualifying and races Idaho driver Jim Tattersall in round
one.

In
Nitro Funny Car, Steven Densham is #1 with a 5.725. Right behind
him is Edmonton driver Ryan Hodgson. He ripped off a 5.755. Tim
Boychuk ended up #9 out of 12 cars and failed to make the field
pending any breakage.

No
changes on top in the Pro classes after final qualifying Saturday.
Despite the threat of bad weather all the qualifying was completed.
Tim Wilkerson leads Funny Car with a 3.89. Alexis DeJoria and Courtney
Force sit 2 and 3. In Top Fuel, Steve Torrence held onto the top
spot with a 3.724. Doug Kalitta and Clay Millican are 2 and 3. Greg
Anderson and Jason Line are one and two in Pro Stock. World Champ
Erica Enders is #6. In Top Alcohol Dragster, the teams went right
into elimination's and Local favorite Shawn Cowie won his round
one race with a 5.32 and faces good buddy Joey Severance in round
two.

Pro
Mod saw a wild final session of qualifying and Shane Molinari qualified
for the first time in the class with a solid 5.93/250. He took on
heavy hitter Von Smith in round one and got the win when Smith slowed.
Molinari had a troubled run as well, but have enough momentum to
get the win. He takes on Jim Whiteley in round two. Jim Bell was
on a mid 5.90 pass but inadvertently clicked the car off early turning
in a 6.003 at only 232mph.He
likely was not too happy with himself. It was the quickest field
in history.

April
29, 2016

Houston
is on tap this weekend on the Mello Yello circuit and it was not a good
day for a couple Pro Mods teams and drivers. Both Sidni Frigo and Johnny
Gray had top end accidents. Frigo's was way more serious as his car left
the track flying over the wall after crossing the centre line then it
came back into his lane before turning backwards and launching over the
wall. He was airlifted to hospital but was reported to be fully conscious
and alert.

Gray
had a tire let go right past the stripe and that turned him into the wall
in his lane. The left rear of the car is in a shambles and the right side
of the car took a decent hit to the wall. He got out of the car under
his own power. Canadian teams and drivers did not have a banner day, but
if the weather hold then they have one more shot Saturday. Shane Molinari
ran two low 6.0's including a 6.00/249. He is #21. Kenny Lang went 6.05/241
and Jim Bell's best was a 6.18/212.

Here
is the video of Frigo's accident.

For
the Pro's it is two females trailing Four-Wide winner Tim Wilkerson in
Funny Car. Tim ripped off a career best 3.89/327. Alexis DeJoria and Courtney
Force are two and three with a 3.91 and 3.92 respectively. Steve Torrence
is #1 in Top Fuel with a 3.724/329. Doug Kalitta and Clay Millican are
two and three.

In Pro Stock
there are only 13 cars (the lowest car count in a long time). The field
is lead by the Summit team for the sixth race in a row, The three cars with
Summit engines are 1,2,3 with Greg Anderson leading with a 6.58.

Boise ran their opening day today for the first LODRS in Division Six,
Here are
the top 10 in TS, YD, Comp Stock and Super Stock as well as the eight
cars that ran in Nitro Funny Car: Nitro Funny Car

13
cars were pre-entered but only 8 made timed runs on Friday. The
usual suspects are at the top with Cory Lee leading, But two teams
went off the track on the top end when their chutes dis not open.
Don Hudson had the most damage but it was all cosmetic body damage
and they will have the repairs made so they can continue racing
tomorrow. Tim Boychuk did the same thing but his new body had minimal
damge and they too will be ready to go.

Greg
Anderson in the second weekend with his new 69 Camaro leads the field
with a 6.87. The car should be a 6.60 car at sea level. BC drivers Zak
Clarke (7.65) and Dan Provost (7.82) made solid runs. One or two more
rounds will play out of Saturday before elimination's Sunday.

Sad
news today here in the NW as after almost 30 yrs of operation the Eagle
Motorplex had close up shop. After dwindling car counts over the lasts
ix or seven years, the band decided the cost to maintain and upgrade to
current standards was too cost prohibitive. This is really too bad, but
the entire drag racing scene in general is suffering with regard to mainstream
Drag Racing. Youth is not as involved as it should be. Heads up and Outlaw
type racing is growing, but up here in this area it is in its infancy
and does not yet have legs. In a year when the ET finals are right year
the thought was the Eagle Motorplex may have a come back year. I think
this would have been a good year to see if there could be a come back
at the 'Plex.

What
will the future be?

On
a better note, Division Six gets underway this weekend with the first
LODRS at Firebird in Boise ID. The "Ignitor" is one of the longest
running events on the West Coast and i the feature cars are Nitro Funny
Cars. The second Heritage event of the season will see 10-16 floppers
in attendance.

April
22, 2016

Locally,
Mission Raceway is scheduled for their second race of the year on the
1/4 mile. It includes a Test N Tune and High School racing today and Mopac
Street Legal this evening. Then the weekend has a Summit ET series single
header and a Super Combo race (8.90, 9.90, 10.90), and the first Land
Of The Leader challenge races. Weather looks iffy, so it might be a long
weekend of racing. A number of Northern BC drivers are at the track as
they make their way home from the Spring Fling.

April
21, 2016

The
NHRA had a three week break but they are coming into a busy time
with four races in the next five weeks with stops in Charlotte (the
4-Wides this weekend), Houston next weekend, then Atlanta and Topeka.
The Four-Wides this weekend are going to have some of the Sportsman
classes experiment with the Four Wide format. Up to now it has only
been the pro classes competing four abreast. While the experiment
is only for time trials, the comments from those classes should
be interesting.

With
the Spring Fling in the books last weekend we want to acknowledge all
the competitors from the NW who competed. Over 110 competitors were from
Division Six and that included 32 Drivers from BC and Alberta. Those Western
Canadian drivers were:

The
first Outlaw heads up race of the season in the NW got underway
today at Woodburn Dragstrip. Outlaw 275 and 10.5 were two of the
classes competing. Paja Agatonovic, one of the sponsors and organizers
of the 10.5 class had a brush with the wall today. He was not injured,
but the car suffered some front clip damage and minor front end
damage. I expect the car will be repaired and back on the track
by the next event at Seattle in June. We will try and have full
results from the event in the next couple days.

10:45pm
update

The
Spring Fling is complete.

It
was an incredible week long event that saw life changing results
for one unassuming Atlanta driver, Solid results from a Professional
Top Fuel driver and a Pro Stock driver. Some of the biggest names
in the sportsman ranks of drag racing competed and won. Close to
70 hrs of racing took place since Tuesday and a whole bunch of money
and prizes were earned and won. Close to a million dollars went
through the gates by way of entry fees and buy backs. Very little
carnage and no real incidents to speak of took place on track. In
the pits,.....well what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

On
Saturday Division Six racer Paul Nero (who had a great week overall)
defeated Shawn Langdon in the 1/4's but Langdon had an ace in the
hole (a second entry), and won in his other car. Both of those drivers
were defeated in the semi finals though when Steve Casner defeated
Langdon and Dean Karns took out Nero. In the final round, it was
Karns getting the win and 20K in his pocket after a .012 light and
a .027 package. Casner had his worst light of the day, a .047, and
could not catch Karn's even if he had a dead on his 4.540 dial (he
was close with a 4.546).

A Doorcar
rules at the Spring Fling Million Friday. Joe Verdi, travels from
Atlanta wins a raffle draw for the entry and takes home the prize.

The
best Canadian results on Friday was a fourth round finish for Trevor
Ricthie. He was a bit late on the tree and could not play catch-up.
For BC driver's Kelowna's Bill Boult went to round three and lost
by .005. Abbotsford's John DeJonge went out in round two when he
was timed out and Mission's Zak Clarke was late in the same round
and ran .004 under his index. Zak had inconsistent RT issues all
week so far and found the issue after that loss to be a low hanging
belly pan or diaper. He got that fixed and is hoping for a good
run today.

Today
is the big day at the 'Fling.... The big purse, lwith the total entries
the winner's purse could be in the 250,000-350,000 range. Good luck t
everyone and particularly to the couple handfuls of Canadian competitors
and the NW Racers. One to watch for is Washington state's Dustin Hengtes.
He has been solid throught the week so far.

Multi
time sportsman winner and two time world champion Luke Bogaki wins Thursday's
20K race.

Round
six was the last round Division Six racers were a part of. Mike Lucas
went .016 but took too much stripe against Tommy Dutcher. He had a bit
of room, but most of the races in this event are a couple hun apart and
in the 1/8 mile that is a couple feet or less. Not a race for the weak.

They
are down to the six racers as round eight is coming up. Justin Lamb, Luke
Bogacki, JR Lobnar, Lane Dickey, Dean Karns and Tommy Dutcher are left.

8:13pm
update.

Abbotsford's
John DeJonge and Fort St. John's Mike Lucas are off to round four. Alberta's
John Tiegen is also going to the fourth., as are a couple other Albertan's,
Peter Saruga and Curt Smith.

Tough
day for Zak Clarke as he breaks out by .003 in round one. With the
Million race tomorrow and a 15 hour race day yesterday he opted
to no by back in today's race. A total of 210 round one losers bought
back at a cost of 160.00 each. Talk about die hard serious racers.
Kyle and Peter are putting on an awesome show.

John
Dejonge is getting the electronics thing sorted out as he is off
to round three after a solid .009 light and a package.

Al Quigley lost a real close tough battle in round two. He was .006
on the tree and had a 13 thou package, only to lose to am 11 thou
package. Five inches!!!!

April
14, 2016

Condolences
to the Ballance family, as long time West Coast Pro Mod team owner
Irvin Ballance has passed away. He was one of the original Pro Mod
owners from the West Coast, and the Ballance racing team was a family
affair. He leaves behind his wife of 50 years Linda, sister Faye
and five sons, Bryan, Chris, David, Mark and Lance. Irvin was just
days short of his 76th birthday.

The
Fling is just underway and today there are no time trials, they go right
into elimination's.

11:30pm
update. It is an all dragster final round and no Division Six racers are
left as Shayne Haeffer and Rob Asbury were both ousted in the semi finals.
Division one's Tim Markoglu and Division Four's Allen Wickell battle it
out for the 10k on Wednesday. Unfortunately for Wickell he went red in
the final round by .01 allowing Markoglu to take the easy win and 10,000.00.
The Wednesday wrap up is here.

10:30pm
update

They
are getting down to the last three rounds at Vegas for day two of
the Spring Fling. The Canadian racer who went the furthest today
was Mission's own Zak Clarke. He advanced to round six. He was a
bit late on the tree, going .044 and could not get the win light.
Yakima's Rob Astbury took the stripe by .0185. Oregon's Paul Nero
in a RAD sponsored dragster is off to the 1/4 finals after his win
in round six with a .032 package. Vancouver Washington's Gene Heaton
also fell in the sixth round. Steve Hannawacker from Spokane is
also onto to round seven. Shayne Shaeffer from Boise is another
Div six racer off to the 1/4's. Mike Coltrin (past Div six SG champ)
lost in round six as well. Seven out of 16 racers in round six were
from the NW "Land of the Leaders".

Part
of the Kidd family race team.

Other
notables from Canada on Wednesday included Al Quigley who lost in
round four. He had .035 on the tree but took too much stripe going
under his dial by .024. Northern BC racers Mike Lucas and David
Kowlaski raced each other in round one (that sucks) and Lucas took
the win. He went .011 red in round two. Alberta's Stan Essary lost
by .007 in round four.

7:00am
update

The
Spring Fling Million is underway.

K&N
SPRING FLING MILLION TUESDAY

After a weekend
that saw over two-inches of rain fall on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway forcing the cancellation of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series,
the sun shined bright for the opening day of the K&N Spring Fling
Million presented by Optima Batteries.

Todays
schedule calls for the free test and tune session sponsored by Yukon Gear
& Axle followed by the Poulson Trailer Shootout whereby 32 pre-entered
racers will contend for a brand new trailer valued at $20,000 and the
runner-up receiving an entry to the 2017 K&N Spring Fling Million
race. Semifinal losers wont go home with empty pockets as they will
receive free entry into the 2017 Fling support races.

By the time
the gates were closed on Monday night for parking, over 450 racers had
entered to compete in the three support races to be held Wednesday, Thursday
and Saturday. Friday is reserved for the Spring Fling Million Dollar race
which will definitely change the life of one lucky racer. By close of
day on Tuesday, close to 500 racers took part in the Yukon Gear &
Axle Test and Tune.

This is also
the official rollout of the new TruSTART Worst Red-Light system, a product
of Compulink and the Spring Fling. It settles the debate once and for
all where the person with the worst red-light loses regardless of his
dial-in, leaving first or last. The first reversal of fortune came early
in the first round of the Poulson Trailer Shootout when Bob Halina came
up against Vinny DiMino. Halina was dialed a 4.66 against DiMinos
4.74. With DiMino getting the head start, he red-lighted by .005 which
would have normally given him the Lose ticket, but Halina lit the red
bulb by a worse .018 handing the win to DiMino.

In
the Poulson Trailer Shootout, four remained in the semifinals; Former
Spring Fling winners Peeps Pennington and Scott Lemen, along with
Dustin Hentges and Cecil Hankins.

At
four cars, Hentges used a .006 reaction time and a .005 over his
dial to turn back Hankins. In the other half, Lemen turned Pennington
away with a .005 reaction time.

With
racers from roughly 35 states in the union including two other countries
(Canada and Mexico) the final round for the Poulson trailer was
Tennessee (Lemen) versus Washington state (Hentges).

With
both drivers wearing matching dial-ins of 4.78, Hentges left with
the better reaction time but gave up the finish line early to hand
the win to Lemen.

This
past weekend's press from Jim Bell racing at Rockingham is
posted.

April
11, 2016

A
huge Top Fuel annoucement from Bob Vandergriff Racing as the team is shutting
down operations effective immediately. The news was reported at Competition
Plus.com. His two drivers, Leah Prichett and Dave Connolly are out
of their rides along with a couple dozen crew members. This is not good
but it is the reality of a class(es) (along with Funny Car), that sees
costs out of control and purse money that is in a word, inadequate.

April
10, 2016

In a sad update to yesterday's news of the Ronnie Davis
crash, Ronnie passed away less than an hour ago due to his injuries. He
will be missed by many.

The
Top Sportsman class that he competed in was dear to his heart. He
was one of the racers who begged and pleaded with the NHRA to add
to the association. He was one of the drivers who ran exhibitions
for the NHRA and a year later was added to select races. His love
of the class spilled over to the defunct ADRL (where he was the
Sportsman director) and the PDRA now in their third year. Ronnie
won the PDRA Top Sportsman championship last year.

I
chatted with Ronnie less than a week ago about politics of all things.
As most who know him know, he was a strong republican party supporter
but he despised Trump. So me being the person I am had to get in
the debate even though I am a Canadian, He had quite a laugh at
a Canuck knowing a lot more about the American political scene than
many in his area. Don't think he would have let me live it down
that I was goading him with Trump propaganda, all in good fun. His
spirit and dedication will live on in Top Sportsman, as it is alive
a well in all sanctioning bodies.

UPDATE:
Ian Tocher is in stable condition at UNC Medical Center's Trauma Center
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is currently sedated. He has serious
injuries to his lower extremities as well as some severe lacerations.
His wife, Sue, and son, Robert, are both with him currently and report
that he "looks just like Ian." We ask that you keep Ian, Sue
and Robert in your thoughts and prayers tonight and in the coming days.
Sue was flattered to know the outpouring of care and concern the drag
racing community has offered up today. Again, I will do my best to keep
everyone updated. Thank you on behalf of Ian, Sue, Robert, and all of
us here at Drag Illustrated for the innumerable calls, texts and emails.
We will not soon forget it. - Wes Buck

At
Las Vegas it was the third ugly wet day in a row and they got two cars
down the track before weather hallted and finally ended the event. It
is postponed to November.

Up
here in the great white North we had none of the isues the desert did,
and racing was complete by 3:00 pm. For the
complete wrap up go here. The final round results are up on the local
headlines page.

April
9, 2016

A
bit of a crazy opening couple days at MRP. Friday a High School
student had a brush with the wall (a really nice 38 Cuda) after
the rear end apparently locked up (not confirmed though). She is
okay but the right front end suffered a bunch of hurt. Friday night
saw a huge spectator count for the Mopac Street Legals. Around 150
cars were out in force as well. The line up to get in the gate Friday
night was out to the main road for a couple hours. This bodes well
for the Friday night racing.

On
Saturday in early time trials a rear end let go spilling synthetic
oil down the right lane which causes a fairly lengthy clean-up.
Synthetic sure makes cleanup a tough task. Then a little later in
the day a 70ish Nova wheelstood then hit the left wall, not to serious
but a bit of a hit for the driver. On a high note, a few drivers
got new cars and were upgrading their licenses.

Scott
Sikora started his licensing in this new RED.

Bradee
Lowe had the Camaro hanging the front wheels.

Jon
Jenkins has a wild FED, that reportedly pulled the wheels Friday
and then with wheelie bar attached launched hard and ran in the
8's. It could be a 7 second performer.

Jessica
May Armstrong completed her crossover licensing in her RED.

A
new Jr. Dragster racer was debuting his new car as well (will get
his name tomorrow) .

Dan
Provost made his first runs locally with his S-10. It ran 7.60's.
His lone lap in the blown RED netted him a 6.60/202.

'Big"
Willy Oliver will compete full time at MRP in the Jr Thunder class.

His
two big opponenets will be Sydney Jung and James Winter who is debuting
a new dragster (ex Darien Provost dragster).

Justin
Bond went 7.0's in his new digger, the ex Meghan Molinari rail.
He will likely debut his new TS car soon.

Daryl
Starzuk has a new look for his Motorcycle.

At
the LODRS in Vegas it was day two of ugly, ugly, ugly, as weather
canceled racing for the second day in a row. Sunday does not look
great either. For local drivers. Shawn Cowie is #3 in the TAD field
and Don St Arnaud is in the field (only 8 cars) despite blazing
the tires on the launch.

Jirka
Kaplan (Alberta) is #8 in TAFC with a 5.679 (the Synoil Funny Car
ended up .004 out of the field).

In
TS, Zak Clarke ran 7.60 in the only qualifier. Mike Lucas is in
the field as is Dave Kowlaski. TS and TD has a couple handfuls of
Alberta drivers competing. Al Quigley is competing in Super Street.

On
a sour note, Ronnie 'The King' Davis was critically injured in a horrific
crash at Rockingham NC. Running in Top Sportsman, his car was quite loose,
and right in the lights it made a hard right right in front of his opponent.
Ronnie's car turned backward and went airborne over the rail where is
rolled and tumbled a number of times. Photographer Ian Tocher was also
seriously injured in the crash as debris hit Tocher. Despite rumours that
Davis did not survive, he is in fact alive. He was transferred to Chapel
Hill Level 1 Trauma center l after initially being airlifted to Pinehurst
Medical Center.

They
ended qualifying after the incident and ended the day as the authorities
spent the rest of the day investigating. Elimination's will take place
on Sunday. Alberta racer Jim Bell failed to qualify, after struggling
in the first three rounds. After extensive testing and the three failed
qualifying attempts the team they found chassis issues 0(including a cracked
4 link bar and one recently placed bar that did was found to be hitting
the wheeliebar on the launch not allowing enough rear squat. The car will
go to Jerry Bickel's shop where repairs will be made.

April
8th 2016

Two
divisionals are on the schedule this weekend. Belle Rose Louisiana in
Division 4, and the Vegas Divisional on the West Coast. 500-600 cars are
expected. Many of them will be staying over for the Spring Fling Million.

As the excitement
ramps up leading up to what is going to be a huge event, co-promoters
Peter Biondo and Kyle Seipel are excited about the vibe, I talk
with racers every day and I can sense this event is going to be huge
said Seipel, and with the progressive purse on Fridays Spring Fling
Million, that means we are going to pay life-changing money to the winner.

Racers that
have attended previous Spring Fling events realize that a huge part of
the Spring Fling brand is the fun and fairness associated with it. Peter
Biondo, Kyle Seipel and the entire Spring Fling staff are constantly working
hard to achieve this. In 2016, the Spring Fling will introduce the long
awaited TruSTART (worst red), to the 2016 Spring Fling events. Lastly,
and to ensure a level playing field, there will be a new Spring Fling
Vehicle-Check Team. Peter Biondo explains In an effort to make sure
we have a level playing field, we will have tear-down/ vehicle checks.
The final four vehicles each race will be looked at (along with random
vehicle checks throughout the event).

Live race
results will be posted on www.DragRaceCentral.com along with live video
and audio starting Wednesday on www.Bangshift.com.

For latest
info and updates visit www.SpringFlingMillion.com.

Race it.
Experience it. April 12-16 at The Strip in Las Vegas.

This weekend
is the opening of the Drag Race season for Canada. Mission Raceway is
on tap including today's opening laps down the track with a test n tune
and the BC High School Drag Racing Series. Tonight is the Mopac Street
Legal's first event as well. Then tomorrow is the opening Summit Bracket
Race. That series all leads up to the Division Six ET finals to be held
at Mission Raceway the September long weekend.

The PDRA's
second race of the year is this weekend in Rockingham. Huge fields of
Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Pro Nitrous and Pro Boost are expected. The
Pro Extreme class should see a number of 3.40 hitters. NW racer Jim Bell
is on attendance in Pro Boost, Pro Motorcycle rider Terry Scheigert from
Abbotsford is also competing.

April
3, 2016

Las
Vegas is in the books. It is the first race over the last 100 or
so without Mark Lyle holding the switch. Division 6's own Mike Gittings
took the helm and did a great job.

In
the Pro classes, it was Antron Brown defeating surprising finalist
Troy Buff. I think it was Buff's first final round in Top Fuel racing
for Bill Miller. In Funny car, teammates Alexis DeJoria and Del
Worsham faced off. It was a real close one with DeJoria earning
the win 3.96-3.98. It was her fourth win. Jason Line won Pro Stock
over a red lighting Bo Butner. Line's teammate Greg Anderson won
the Pro Stock K&N Challenge on Saturday.

Also
doing a great job this weekend were a number of Division Six racers.
Starting with world champion Joey Severance, he took the TAD title
over 2014 champion Chris Demke. In TAFC, Alberta's Jirka Kaplan
had his best Vegas outing and runner-upped to Terry Ruckman. In
the semi finals he defeated Greg Hunter, driving the Alberta based
Synoil Funny Car. That was Hunter's best ever finish. Also Greg
ran his career best, a 5.59/260 in round two. Congratulation's to
Greg, team owner Geoff Goodwin and the whole Synoil TAFC team. Alberta's
Ken Mostowich won Super Gas over John Labbous Jr. Mostowich had
a .024 package in the final round and was even more deadly in the
semis with an .008 package. He had a perfect 10.050 in the 1/4 finals.
Ken had the index dialed in on race day, earning his 4th National
event Wally. Washington's Cody Lane won Super Stock over Spring
Fling organizer Kyle Siepel. Washington state Stock 'hitter' Brad
Burton runner-upped to Leo Glasbrenner. Alberta's Casey Plaizier
lost in the 5th round in a real close heads up battle with race
winner Glasbrenner.

In
the other classes, Alan Ellis won Comp over Tony Madella, Dan Fletcher
won the title in Super Comp, his first in the class and it was the
fifth class he has won a Wally in National Competition. Not sure
how many hold that distinction, but it was his 96th Wally overall.
J.R. Lobner defeated Denny Hills in Top Dragster. Alberta's Trevor
Ritchie lost in the semis. No doubt he was racing for his friend
Scotty Taylor. Another Division Six racer Paul Nero, also lost in
the semis. In Top Sportsman, it was Don Meziere defeated Ed Olpin.
Alberta;s Mike Williams lost in the 1/4 finals.

At
San Antonio and the IHRA Texas Nationals, Jason Rupert won Funny
Car (far lane over Shawn Bowen. Rupert ran a 5.66.

Ontario's
John Konigshofer (far lane) won Pro Stock in a great side by side
over Trevor Eman . He had .03 on the tree and it gave him a .02
stripe. 6.25 - 6.24.

Billy
Harper (far lane) won Pro Mod. He ran a record 5.842 over a troubled
Ruben Tetsoshvili.

Jay Turner (near lane) won Nitro Harley over R. House.

Alberta Funny Car driver Tim Boychuk (near lane) went to the semi
finals before he was defeated by Shawn Bowen. Ryan Hodgson was ousted
in round one by Mike McIntire Jr.

April
1, 2016

Have
a good fools day everyone, I saw a few, Tim McAmis' was pretty good. A
busy few weeks for racing starting this weekend. The Denso Nationals in
Las Vegas, the IHRA is in San Antonio this weekend for their second National
Event. A few Canadian and NW teams are competing including Tim Boychuk,
Ryan Hodgson and Mark Sanders. Next weekend is the Vegas Divisional and
also the first Western Canadian Race Track opens next weekend, as Mission
Raceway is ready to rock. The bracket year should be a good one locally
as the Division 6 Et Finals are hosted by MRP. Then don't forget in two
weeks is the BIGGEST bracket Big Dollar event ever. The Spring Fling Million.
We have full coverage of all events (minimal for Vegas this weekend as
our photog is at San Antonio).

March
31, 2016

A
shout out to good friend Ken Sitko as he is on his final work day
after 34 years as a Mechanical Engineer. In Ken's retirement he
is going back full time to work in what he is possibly best suited
for, race car repair fabrication and engine building. Below are
all the details.

Good
luck Ken in your new future endeavours. There is no one I can think
of that I would recommend more for this line of work.

March
30, 2016

Some
happy news to announce as Nathan and Carla Sitko have a new addition
to the family. Their second child (another daughter) was born a
couple days ago weighing in at a healthy 9 lbs 8 oz. Audrey Jo Sitko
is her name. Congrat's you two, see you in the summer.

Happy
Birthday to my wonderful daughter Shelby. 17 and full of attitude
(mostly in a great way). We love you baby girl

March
28, 2016

12:15
pm update:

Shocked
to hear this morning that NHRA chief starter and past Division Six
starter Mark Lyle passed away suddenly while on holiday in Mexico.
He was helping a friend in distress in the water, but failed to
survive the ordeal.

He
was a fixture in the NW and was well liked by all. A fair but stern
starter, he always had time to chat and assist racers and track
staff. When Rick Stewart retired, everyone on the West Coast know
that Mark would be a logical choice to become the new Chief Starter.
He will certainly be missed. God Speed Mark.

The
NW's current starter, Mike Gittings will be the chief starter for
this weekend's Las Vegas Denso Nationals.

9:00am
update:

A
bit of racing action this weekend locally as Pacific Raceway ran a test
n tune on the weekend. A few locals headed South including Nick Duda.
He got in a couple solid runs and went hi 6's at 200 mph. Jessica May
Armstrong made a few laps in the family RED as well. Mission is only two
weeks away from the first weekend of racing including testing Friday then
Saturday and Sunday they get right into the bracket points. Likely, if
the weather co-operates there will be a bunch of cars testing as well.

Starting
next weekend in Vegas the action is hot for three weeks in a row.
First the National (Mello Yello) event, the "Denso Spark Plug
Nationals". Top Fuel Funny Car, Pro Stock, the Top Alcohol
Classes, TD/TS and Comp as well as the regular Sportsman classes
will compete. Nitro Harley is also competing as part of the Harley
Davidson ten race series.

Then
the LODRS is on tap the week after, and that also includes the Top
Alcohol classes, TD/TS and Comp along with the other six Sportsman
classes that make up NHRA Sportsman racing.

.......
Then the event with possibly the biggest car count and it includes
only one class. The Spring Fling Million event presented by Optima
Batteries. North America's largest and richest Electronics class
event. Friday Night there could be upwards of 350 cars vying for
a huge payout. Already a handful of Western Canadian teams have
won entry to that race through the raffle
including Mission's Zak Clarke and there could be as many as 30
Canadian teams trying to be the big winner. My guess is the winner's
purse will be over $300,000. Speedzone will have all the coverage
for the Fling. The Fling page is here.

Here
is a video from the Gators of qualifying session for the Pro Mods.
At the 8 minute mark you see the Shane Molinari brush with the wall.

March
25, 2015

Have
a good Easter Holiday weekend.

Here
is a bit of a gallery for "Fast Car Friday" A few Pro
Mods from Gainesville (David Smith photos).

Steven
Whiteley has one of the baddest Blown Pro Mods in NHRA Drag Racing.
He qualified #13 and was ousted in round one by eventual winner
Rickie Smith.

Doug
Winters came close to qualifying as he is running power from Mike
Janis in 2016. His best was a 6.049, his career best in NHRA Pro
Mod.

Shane
Molinari's debut in 2016 ended with a brush with the wall. Repairs
should be made in time for Houston.

Robert
Patrick looks to be a strong contender this year as he ran a career
best 5.850/242. He lost in round one to runner-up Danny Rowe.

Michael
Biehle was #11 with a 5.88. He lost to Bob Rahaim in round one.

Jim Bell had a tough weekend at Gainesville. He was
planning on running his Mustang this season in the NHRA Pro Mod
class but had a brush with the wall in testing He came to Gainesville
with very little test time on the new hemi powerplant. In the last
session he was on a good run but mechanical issues hit the team
and he coasted on the back half to a 6.50 run.

Sidnei
Frigo had a great qualifying effort sitting #1 with a 5.839/240.
He ran even quicker in round one, a 5.810/254. His weekend ended
in round two on a holeshot loss to Chip King.

March
23, 2016

Pre
entry details for Doorwarz IV are posted
at the Doorwarz web site. The Outlaw
275, Outlaw 8.5 and Top Sportsman classes need teams to pre enter prior
to June 1st. That is the cutoff for determining class participation in
the event. For 275 we would like 12 or more cars. We have had over 16
teams state their intention but pre entries confirm it. 8.5 need number
so pre entry is critical. Top Sportsman pre entries determine whether
or not we will do a double header, or just a single race. A minimum of
16 cars is necessary for a double header.

April
23 Vancouver Island. Matt will be in Victoria, Naniamo, Courtney and Port
Alberni on Saturday all four locations:
Victoria contact: Bill Jamieson @250-888-0053 his email is mrpontiac55@gmail.com
, Gary Schley in Nanaimo at 250-741-4100, email stripesgs@yahoo.ca, Bill
Leong in Courtney @250-338-6441 email perfprod@shaw.ca and Dyan Lover
in Port Alberni: dyanlover@shaw.ca 250-731-9898.
So just for clarification Matt will be travelling to those four places
if the numbers are there.

8:30
am update:

A
big correction on the repairs to be made to the BMH Firebirdafter the Gatornationals incident.
There is some damage to the left quarter and door and obviously the front
wheel damage. All will be easily repaired. In talking with Justin on the
weekend I had assumed (mostly when I saw the picture on comp plus) that
there was more front end damage but in fact there was not. Apologies go
out to Justin and the team. They will be back out soon.

March
20, 2016

The
Gators wrap up with four non winners in the semi finals of Top Fuel. That
meant for the second race in a row, a new winner would be crowned. Brittany
Force, Clay Millican, Dave Connolly and Terry McMillen were the semi finalists.
It was McMillen and Force advancing to the final round and Brittany Force
gets her long awaited first win. It was also McMillen's first ever final.
Her team mate Robert Hight wins in Funny Car over Chad Head. Greg Anderson
won Pro Stock over Jason Line. Eddie Krawiec won Motorcycle over rival
Hector Arana Sr. In Pro Mod it was 'Trickie' Ricky Smith defeating West
Coast favorite Danny Rowe. Canadian Kenny Lang qualified with a 5.926
(#14) and took on #3 Johnny Gray in round one but could watch his solid
5.91 get crushed by the world's quickest Pro Mod pass (NHRA) in history,
a 5.751 by Gray. Other Canadian's Eric Latino and Jim Bell failed to make
the field.

Update
Tuesday March 22:

Talked
to one of the partner's on the BMH Pro Mod team, Justin Bond, after their
smack with the wall Friday, while it looked like the hit was relatively
hard, it will not keep the team down for long. The car is on the way for
repairs and will get left side work and will hopefully back on track at
the next NHRA Pro Mod race six weeks from now in Houston.

Shane
Molinari and the BMH team have some work to do after their brush with
the wall Friday during qualifying Friday. The car should be ready
to go by the end of April.

At
the PDRA, cool temperatures got the best of the event Saturday and most
of the semi finals and finals will be finished off at the next one or
two events. Top Jr Dragster, Extreme Motorcycle were completed. The Top
Sportsman and Top Dragster classes will finish in Houston and the rest
of the classes will be done at Rockingham. Scott Blake qualified with
a 3.926/189 and won round one with a career best 3.873/192. In round two
he lost to Jay Cox 3.746/197 - 3.897/186. A good effort from the Red Deer
team.

Mike
Gondziola did get his new Corvette back on track for the final qualifier.
His nitrous explosion Thursday was extensive, but the engine was pieces
back together while the scoop on the car was damaged beyond repair. He
tried to make the last session of qualifying but the car would not stay
running after the burn out. He will likely be back ready to go for the
next race.

Hopefully
the new car will come back looking like this after the big nitrous
explosion on what would have been a 3.80 pass in Tulsa.

March
18, 2016

A
busy weekend at both Gainesville NHRA Mello Yello) and Tulsa (PDRA). Huge
performances at Tulsa and Funny Car track record at Gainesville. Unfortunately
not a good weekend at either race for Canadian and North West racers.
Shane Molinari, driving the new BMH Firebird hit the wall hard in the
second qualifying session. The car made a hard move to the left wall (the
front wheel broke) causing pretty good front end and body damage. They
will send the car off for repairs, but will unfortunately miss the rest
of this race and possibly a couple other events. The next NHRA Pro Mod
event is a month and a half away though and they will try to be ready
for Houston April 29-May 1.

Jim
Bell is not in the field yet after two aborted runs. Kenny Lang is in
the field (#15) with a 6.00.

At
Tulsa and the season opening PDRA event, Mike Gondziola debuted his new
Corvette and had a couple promising early shut off runs, but in his third
he had a big nitrous explosion at 400 feet (after a .97 60 and a 2.58
330. The explosion did cause a bunch of body damage to the front clip.
Hopefully he is back out soon. Scott Blake is also in attendance in his
nearly new 69 Camaro. He ripped off a couple mid 3.90's and is solidly
in the field with a 3.95 best. In Pro Extreme there were two 3.40 runs.
One by Jason Scruggs ( 3.492/220) and one by Brandon Snider (3486/219).
In Pro Nitrous, three drivers ran 3.60's including a side by side with
Tommy Franklin (3.686/203.34) and Stevie 'Fast' Jackson (3.697/203.83)
and then the next pair down the track saw Tim Savell go 3.687/200. Pro
Boost is lead by Kevin Rivenbark (3.753/199).

March
16, 2016

Gondziola
picking the car up at Bickel's shop in Missouri heading to Tulsa. Good
Luck!

March
15, 2016

Sad
news to report today out of Alberta as one of that province's most well
known racers passed away suddenly. Scott Taylor from Peace River was well
known in the Alberta Drag Racing circle over the last two decades. A Super
Class and Top Dragster racer, he was one or the original racers in the
Top -E club racing at Castrol and was the series champion a couple times
in the first few years. He won a number of Iron Man Trophys at the Rocky
Mountain Nationals over the last decade and a half as well. Always there
to help a racer and to coach and mentor as well, he will be sadly missed.
Scott leaves behind his wife Sheila, and children Brittany, Dallas and
Kaitlyn. Funeral services to be announced.

Well
the doorcar season begins this weekend in the NHRA and the PDRA. Locals
Jim Bell, Shane Molinari and Mike Gondziola will all be competing. Gonzi
debuts his new Bickel built and Sonny powered 2016 Corvette in Tulsa at
the PDRA event. The early season racing for Mike will be mainly testing
sessions as he work out the new car with a huge 960 inch five system bullet
and an Automatic with a lock up convertor.

The car looks bad ass! Once the bugs are sorted out the car should be
a 3.70 or 3.80 car. That converts to a 5.70 time slip in the 1/4 mile.

Jim
Bell will be back in his Camaro after banging the wall in his Mustang
a few weeks ago. Both he and Molinari will be in Gainesville. The Hemi
was put in the Camaro and Brad Personette will be tuning up the turbocharged
beast. Shane competes for the first time in the NHRA with a "legitimate"
car and engine combo. After getting the testing bugs sorted out the team
really is "ONE TO WATCH"

This
year's date for the Big Bucks race at Castrol Raceway is July 2 - 3. Always
a great event. Web info is
here.

The
Small tire action in the NW looks to be growing legs and a few NW tracks
are taking notice and getting involved. In Canada Mission Raceway is hosting
their 4th annual Doorwarz event July 1-3 and that event includes Outlaw
10.5 (1/4 mile for 2016 again and upwards of 10-14 cars), Outlaw 275 (1/8
mile event for the first time in the NW and there could be 16-20 cars)
and Outlaw 8.5 (the newest class to run at Doorwarz, 1/8 mile and hoping
for 10-16 cars for year one) for small tire competitors. Of course Pro
Modified is the main big tire class, and it looks to have the potential
to be the biggest Pro Mod race ever in the NW. There could be upwards
or 30 cars for the 2016 event. Top Sportsman, CW Doorslammer and Open
Comp are the other classes. Mission Raceway has not confirmed yet but
there is a more than 75% chance of hosting a second Outlaw 275 event August
26-28 as part of the Smoke Fire and Thunder event. Kelowna's Thunder Mountain
has a really cool small tire event called Kelowna's "Fastest Street
Car Shootout". It is July 22-24. Tire sizes are as follows: 28x 10.5-15
slick, 28 x 11.5 - 15 DOT and 275 x 60-15 Drag Radial. Edmonton's Castrol
Raceway has their WDRL series races including 8.5 and Extreme street.
Their racing schedule is May 7-8, Sept 3-4. Other Alberta tracks include
Medicine Hat May 28-29 (WDRL 8.5 and Extreme Street) and the South Alberta
'Fastest Street car shootout' September 10-11. Central Alberta (Rimby,
close to Red Deer) June 18-19 and August 14, and August 13 there is a
'No prep Grudge" event. Seattle hosts the WDRL June 11-12 including
Pro Mods and Top Sportsman, They also have the Outlaw 10.5 class and Outlaw
275. Woodburn has the West Coast Shootout April 16. Further South is the
No Excuses event at Sacramento. It is just around the corner March 19-20.
It is 5 k to win for 275. Then in the late fall it is SCSN for all classes.

(click
on track link below for rules except for SCSN rules, go to their web site
for their rules)Doorwarz
rules are here(note:
O/L 275 and 8.5 are SCSN rules with a couple chassis mods. All confrmed
changes for 2016 will be posted within 10 days from today on the doorwarz
web site.

It
was the final everyone was hoping for in Nitro Funny at Bakersfield. The
two quickest cars all weekend faced off and it was a great race. Kris
Krabill got his first March Meet victory in the Austin/O'Brien Bardahl
Firebird. He ran the national champ Steven Densham that was literally
a 5.60 machine all weekend. Only one run was not in the 5.60's for the
son of the veteran 'Teachers Pet' driver. Krabill goes 5.58/256 to Densham's
5.64/254. Both drivers left at the same time so it was a .06 victory.
Even Bucky had to leave with a smile on his face.

In Top Fuel
it was #6 qualifier Rick Williamson defeating #8 Adam Sorokin with a second
career best run of the weekend. He went 5.57/245. Sorokin wheelstood the
Champion Speed Shop FED for the third time and by the time his wheel were
on the ground Williamson was long gone. Adam tripped the lights with a
6.70/170.

As talked
about below it was Roger 'Radar' Lechtenberg defeating Dan Hix 6.08 to
6.13 in AA/FA.

In A/Fuel,
Drew Austin earned his biggest win ever in the Austin Family Pro/Max Ford
powered dragster. He took out the 'big man' Kin Bates. Under the lights
and on a cool track Bates could not keep his car in the center of his
lane while Austin was strong until 900 feet where he started to drift
to his wall. He crossed the line first with a 6.40/220 to a slowing 7.58.

In Pro 7.0,
Mike Peck was trying to earn another win in the class and start off his
defense of the title in a good way. He got all the way to the final against
Errol Sharron, but unfortunately took too much finish line stripe and
broke out running a 6.92 on the 7.0 index. Sharron was right on the number
going 7.00.

4:00pm
update

What
a crazy round of semis in both Funny Car and Top Fuel. Tony Bartone crossed
into Rick Williamson's lane at 230 mph at 800 feet and just avoided his
opponent. The automatic win was there for Williamson but he still ran
a solid 5.63/234. In the other semi final, Adam Sorokin got a wheelstanding
win against a red lighting Jim Murphy. Sorokin vs Williamson in the final.

In
Funny Car, Kris Krabill kept the hits coming with a career best and a
Heritage record 5.552/261.62. His opponent Dan Horan was off the gas by
200 feet. Steven Densham was off to the final round (his second in a row)
at the March meet. He ripped off a great 5.65/253.75 Matt Bynum ran a
consistent 5.74/248.89. Krabill looks for his first ever March Meet win
as he takes on the defending event and series champion Steven Densham.

In
Fuel Altered with the breakage from round one, Dan Hix ran Roger Lechtenberg
in what would be a two round final. It was real close as Hix got a .03
holeshot, and was on the chutes by 1200 feet only to have Roger drive
around him at 1280 feet for a four foot victory 6.09/209 to a 6.13/202.
It was close.

2:00pm
update

Round
two was awesome in all the nitro classes at Bakersfield. Kris Krabill
ran a career best 5.63/254 to take out Richard Townsend 5.77/250. Steven
Densham ran a 5.66/253 to take out James Day's 5.86/241. Dan Horan went
5.74/261 and despite Tim Nemeth's holeshot, his 5.94/238 was well back.
Tim had to pedal the car at 800 feet as he moved toward the guard rail
in his lane. Matt Bynum upset Cory Lee in the final round two pairing
with a 5.76/252. Lee went 5.84/252.

In
Top Fuel it was upset and "holeshot" city in their round one
pairings Adam Sorokin had a huge task taking on #1 qualifier Rick White's
5.50 machine. White went in the 5.50's again this time a 5.54/243 but
Sorokin's career best 5.63/242 aided by a 1/10th holeshot was enough to
take a three foot victory. Rick Williamson from the #6 spot also ran a
career best 5.615 to defeat two time MM winner Jimmy Young's 5.74. Tony
Bartone from the two hole did get into the 5.50's win a 5.57 victory over
Dusty Green. That was the only non upset in the round. In the final pairing
it was Jim Murphy squeezing out Bill Dunlap 5.77 to a 5.78.

In
Fuel Altered it was all 'Transformer" style Altered advancing to
the semis, Jim Holtz narrowly defeating the Pure Hell driven by Brian
Hope 6.08/209 to a hard charging career best 6.19/230. Holtz had issues
on the run and could not make his semi final. Dan Hix got his act together
after qualifying struggles and defeated Shawn Van Horn 6.04/225 to a 6.45
193. James Generalao had a bunch of excitement in the shut down area against
Tom Padilla. After a 6.23/196 win against a wall tapping 6.40 for Padilla
Padilla's chute never opened and he got into Generalao's chutes forcing
both cars to off course near the end of the track. He could not make the
call for the semi final. Roger Lechtenberg defeated Bryan hall 6.08/204
to a slowing 7.86.

With
the breakage in the round the two cars left Dan Hix and Lechtenberg would
run for all the marbles.

At Wild Horse Pass Motorsport Park, the first Division Seven opening Lucas
Oil race completed Sunday. Joey Severance got the win in TAD in a pedal
job over Chris Demke. Both drivers were in the mid 6's on their runs,
but Joey managed to get his dragster to hook up first. Local fan favorite
Shawn Cowie lost a close one to Megan McKernan 5.30 to 5.36 in round one.
In TAFC, it was Doug Gordon winning over Shane Westerfield 5.53 to 5.62.
Alan Ellis won Comp over Jeff Lane, Mike Ferderer won Top Sportsman over
David Armstrong, John Lobnar got the Top Dragster win over Phil Unruh,
Mike Hiat was the Super Comp winner over Sarah Moldenhauer, Mike Decarolis
won Super Street over Keith Downing, and Brad Pierce won Super Gas over
Val Torres. In the Stock class it was Tibor Kadar over Division six's
Bob Gullett. Andrew Durham won Super Stock over Kyle Rizzoli. And finally
in Sportsman Motorcycle Denny Alves defeated Dan Nielsen.

Orlando
is complete and there were a couple upsets based on the qualifying positions
after Saturday. In Funny Car, both the #1 and #2 qualifiers Jason Rupert
and Mark Sanders made stellar runs in their round one wins over Tim Boychuk
and Bruce Litton. Rupert went 5.559/261 to take out Boychuk (6.09) in
round one then lost traction in round two against Shawn Bowen and Bowen
was in the final round. Sanders ran a career best 5.616 to easily defeat
Litton's 5.77. But in his semi final against Mike McIntire he was a tenth
slower on the tree that round one and he lost as both drivers ran identical
5.715's. McIntire has .09 on the tree. In the final it was Bowen getting
the win with a engine expiring 5.79. The 'MacAttack' driver was off the
gas by 500 feet. In Pro Stock the #1 and #2 qualifiers were out in round
two and it was #4 Cary Goforth defeating the #7 qualifier with an easy
6.35. In Nitro Harley, it was Randall Andras taking out Jake Stordeur
with a 6.36. Pro Mod saw its best event since the re introduction to the
IHRA. Adam Flamholc defeated Jerico Balduf in a battle of blower cars.
Flamholc went 5.90 while Balduc had to get off the gas as he was loose
by 300 feet.

Local
driver Tim 'Iceman' Nemeth found a couple more hun and defeated
Brad Thompson 5.84/233 to 5.96/238. Ryan Hodgson lost on a holeshot
to Rich Townsend 5.840/255 to a 5.810/249. James Day in the 'Pedaler'
defeated Rich Rogers in the 'Fighting Irish' with a 5.87. Rogers
tapped the wall.

'Hollywood'
Kris Krabill defeated Chris Davis 5.75 to 6.09 Davis crashed last
year at this race and bought Mark Hentges Arrow. He qualified with
a career best 5.92. Cory Lee in the 'California Hustler' got the
best of Pete Pederson 5.74 to 6.00. Marc White in the 'Crop Duster'
Monza could not get around Dan Horan. Horan ripped off a 5.71 to
a game 5.87. Matt Bynum defeated Don Hudson 5.79 to 5.96 and the
#1 qualified Steven Densham ripped off a wheels up 5.66/251 to easily
dispatch Rian Konno's slowing 7.62.

Tim
Nemeth has improved every run so far this weekend and he will need
that Sunday as he takes on Dan Horan in round two. Horan is not
great on the tree so if Tim runs a 5.77-5.80 he has a great chance
of advancing.

In
Fuel Altered, the 'Pure Hell'driven by Brian Hope vs 'Pure Heaven'
piloted by Jeff Bennett is stuff of legends. Both cars had a wild
run and at the end of it both were in the top eight. Unfortunately
it did not last and Bennett lost his spot )he ran a 6.72 in that
qualifier), but Hope did make the field with a 6.42.

2:00pm
update:

Qualifiying
is complete at the March Meet in all the pro classes and they are
just about to run round one of Funny Car and Top Fuel.

The
weekend did not end well for Chris Morel in the Little City Cuda.
Right at the hit fluid got on the left tire and the car hooked across
into the other lane right at 60 ft and flipped up on its lid. A
fire did start but was quickly put out. Chris is okay other than
a couple burns on his hands and a bit of heat in his face area.
The body is trashed but the car should be repair fine.

Two
Floppers ran in the 5.60's and the field is led by Steven Densham.
His 5.63 tops the 22 cars in attendance. Kris Krabill laid down
a 5.67/254 in the final session to sit 2.

Canadian drivers include Tim Nemeth who ran a 5.86 best and Ryan
Hodgson who was one hun quicker with a 5.85.

In
7.0 pro Joey Steckler is in the middle of the pack with a 7.13.
He lost in round one to Ronnie Lennon 7.05 to a 7.11.

Mike Peck is the #1 qualifier. His FED is for sale, as rumors of
him close to having a nitro coupe ready to run.

In
A/Gas, James Rutherford ran a 7.72 and was also in the middle of
the pack. He lost in round one of elims this afternoon.

Top
Fuel is lead by "not Tony Bartone". Rick White ripped
off a career best 5.56 to sit #2. The field is 8 cars this year
and 13 cars attempted to make the field. Bartone is #2 coasting
across the line with a 5.62/233.

Drew
Austin ran his career best, a 6.21/225 but he sits #2 behind the
godfather of the class, Kin Bates (6.16)

James
Generaleo Jr leads Fuel Altered with a 6.06. The bump ended up to
be Washington driver Tom Padilla, who went 6.43.

At
Orlando, it is Jason Rupert leading the way in Nitro Funny Car.
He went 5.63 Friday. Mark Sanders ran a career best 5.65 Saturday
and is #2. Tim Boychuk really struggled this weekend as he could
only run a 5.96 best. He is in the field in the #8 spot.

Pro
Mod has their best field so far including last year. 10 cars tried
for a spot in the top 8 and it is Billy Harper who ended up #1.
His 5.87 was the only 5.8 run. Five cars are in the 5.90's and bump
spot is a 6.7. Last year's IHRA champion Dina Parise failed to make
the field. Kevin Fiscus is #3 with a 5.95

Pro
Stock and Nitro Harley are also featured classes this weekend. Washington
Pro Stock racer JR Carr held the top spot after final qualifying
with a 6.23. Canadian John Konigshofer is in the top half (#3 with
a 6.25) of the field and Larry O'Brien is #6 with a 6.35.

In
Phoenix only seven TAD's are running this weekend. The TAFC is solid with
13 cars. Local driver Shawn Cowie is #3 with a 5.33. He runs Megan McKernan
in round one. Three blower cars are the top three and Chris Demke leads
with a 5.255. Joey Severance is #2 with a 5.288/ Doug Gordon ran low 5.50's
in qualifying and is #1 with a 5.503. Shane Westerfield is #2 with a 5.558.

Comp
is weak with only 8 cars. Ray Martin and Jeff Lane are the only two Div
six cars competing in Comp. In Top Dragster seven Division six cars are
competing in the 40 car field. Dan Provost is #18 and he ran Jeff Taylor
in round one and had .013 on the tree for an advantage but took too much
stripe (took a .044 stripe) and broke out by .013. Ouch, a tough loss
in round one.

March
3, 2016

This
weekend is the March Meet (actually gets underway today). A number of
NW teams are competing in a number of different classes. From Washington
state, Tom Padilla in Fuel Altered and Kris Krabill in Nitro Funny Car
to name a couple. From Alberta, Joey Steckler is in Pro 7.0. Amber and
James Rutherford will both represent the Ford contingent. James in his
51 Ford in A/Gas, and Amber in C/Gas. Ryan Hodgson will compete in Funny
Car and is trying to double up at the 'Patch. He won the CHRR in October.
From BC it is local favorite Tim Nemeth in Nitro Funny Car. We have a
photographer down there to get all the shots and will report every day.

Another
West Coast event is the Phoenix Divisional. Shawn Cowie goes for two in
a row in TAD, and a bunch of TS and TD teams try to better their early
exits from last weekend's national.

Also
up this weekend is the IHRA's first event of the year. They are competing
in Orlando Florida. Tim Boychuk will debut his new Camaro, and should
be a top three contender this year. The car has already gone 5.7's a number
of times. Washington's Mark Sanders will also be there.

Here
is a great video of BMH Racings career best 5.82 from last weekend at
Palm Beach. Shane Molionari did a great drivng job from half track on
when the car went toward the center line.

Congratulations
to Leah Pritchett on her first Top Fuel win last weekend in Phoenix. For
only the second time in Top Fuel history it was two female drivers in
the final round. The race was a great side by side and Leah got the holeshot
win over Brittany Force. They both ran 3.77's. Tim Wilkerson defeated
John Force in Nitro Funny Car and Jason Line defeated Chris McGaha in
Pro Stock.

February
29, 2016

Here is a video of Jim Bell's contact with the wall from
Sunday afternoon at Palm Beach. Jim is okay and told SpeedZone's reporter
videographer that he will have the Camaro out for the Gatornationals in
two weeks. Go wide screen on this.

It's
early in the season but there is a bunch of Drag Racing action this
weekend. The NHRA Mello Yello season has race 2 happening at Phoenix
this weekend. Ron Capps Doug Kalitta and Bo Butner lead qualifying
in the three pro classes. The three 16 car fields (48 cars total)
had 45 cars competing. Only Funny Car was full (barely). Top Fuel
had 15 cars and Pro Stock sees 14 in the field for Sunday.

Not
what NHRA wants in what is a transition year that they hope will
see improved fields.

There
are a few BC and Alberta competitors in Top Sportsman, Top Dragster
and the other sportsman classes at Phoenix. Abbotsford racer Dan
Provost competed in Top Dragster and qualified in the middle of
the pack. He went .009 red in round one, as did Trevor Ritchie.
Mike Lucas from Fort St John also went red in round one (Top Sportsman).
Ray Martin from Alaska won his round one match-up in Top Sportsman.
In the Super classes, Idaho's Trevor Harkema is off to round four
in Super Comp. Cal Method and Brad Burton are also off to round
four (in Stock).

Division
Four opens the LODRS season this weekend in Houston (Baytown). TA is not
competing there, so Comp, TD and TS are the feature classes.

In
Palm Beach NHRA Pro Mods were out for the first time in 2016.

Johnny
Gray was in the Precision Turbo Camaro for the first time and he
lit up the scoreboard with a 5.75/255 best. He was off to the final
round against Steven Whiteley on the roots blown Cadillac. He ripped
off 5.7 runs most of the weekend as well.

It
was not a great weekend for the couple Canadian Pro Mods teams in
attendance, but progress was made for one team. A couple expected
teams were not there to test (Kenny Lang and Eric Latino), but Jim
Bell and Shane Molinari were both out there. The BMH team (Shane
Molinari driver) debuted their new Firebird and they had very promising
early runs Wednesday and Thursday. They including short times of
9.8 and .97 60 foots and sub 4 second half track. They struggled
a bit on Friday and Saturday (qualified #16) and sourced their issues
to a bad transmission (which they are replacing today and testing
hard the rest of Sunday and possibly early in the week).

Jim
Bell also had his struggles and they manifested themselves Sunday.
Jim was driving his Mustang for the first time since it was repaired.
(The car was into the wall at Rockingham in 2014) Last year Kevin
Fiscus drove the car in the second half of the year. Jim is back
to a one driver team this year and he hired one of the best known
Turbo tuners in the business Brad Personett to lead the team. The
team did have struggles on Thursday through Saturday and failed
to qualify for elimination's. He did get inserted as an alternate
Sunday morning but shook in round one. He came back for a test run
at 11:00 am our time but in the shutdown area after a 6.1 run the
car got loose (it looked like the chutes got tangled up but I am
not sure), He hit the wall and ended up in the middle of the other
lane by the time he came to a stop. The damage does not look serious
but they will take a good look at the car before repair decisions
are made. He does have his Camaro sitting in the race shop as well.

12:00pm
update. With the new transmission installed Shane Molinari and the
BMH team laid down their career best 5.82/252 a few minutes ago.
They will likely make one more hit today and tune it up a bit. Congrat's
team, you will be a solid competitor this year if you can continue
with that kind of performance.

Doug
Winters has new power this year from Mike Janis. He used that power
to run a career best 5.82/251. Unfortunately he lost his chutes
and ended up in the trap after that run. He did make repairs and
won round one today going 5.91

February
22, 2016

One
major event was on this weekend and for many drag racers it was not on
their radar.

Maybe
it should have been!!!!!!!!

Donald
Long is the race promoter and he is one of the leading entities producing
bad ass small tire events. This one was huge. There are three independently
produced small tire events that catch those racers attentions. Two of
them are Duck-X (Long's company) Productions. "Lights Out" is
the biggest one, He also produces No Mercy. Monty Mihko is the other behind
the other "Big 3" event Yellow Bullet Nationals.

While
"Small Tire racing" might be considered a "niche"
market for drag racing purists, don't kid yourself that it is not a factor,
it is!!!!. This weekend's Lights Out race had close to 500 cars in attendance,
it shut down the highways in and around South Georgia Motorsport Park
and had the largest online presence I have witnessed in my drag racing
career. The March Meet, CHRR and SCSN usually have a substantial online
presence watching their events through Motormania or Bangshift. All three
combined did not match the 25,000+ daily attendance Light out saw. It
was incredible. Saturday they had to close the gates at the track by 1:00pm.
This type of racing is relevant and tracks better pay attention. The big
class was "Radial vs the World". It had a $55,000.00 winners
purse (the richest in history), 57 cars in attendance and record runs
throughout the weekend. 12 cars ran sub four second ets in qualifying
and a few more did it in elimination's. It was wild. In the end it was
Keith Barry outlasting Steve Jackson He took the win on a holeshot 3.934
to a quicker 3.896. Crashes, wheelstands, explosions and record runs were
witnessed throughout the weekend. Pro 275 Was the other major class. It
was also huge with close to 60 cars, and believe it or not there was a
4.11 et on a 275 tire. The final saw Barry Mitchell defeat Steve Drummond
4.207 - 4.271 Local racer Greg Henschell arguably one of the top three
based on the West Coast 275 racers could only land in the #15 spot in
the x 275 field, and #22 in the Pro 275 field. He had one of the most
memorable round one match-ups on the weekend. Facing off against Shawn
Ellington in the "Murder Nova" (Street Outlaws fame) Ellington
took a real close stripe with his front tires three feet in the air. To
see it on the feed was incredible. Likely the handful of local racers
who traveled South to watch the race went wild.

February
16, 2016

Ray Bobrowski photo

Sorry
for no updates from Pomona elimination's. Was extremely under the
weather (still am). Congratulation's to two Canadian teams in the
Top Alcohol Dragster final round. The #1 qualifier Don St Arnaud
took on the #10 qualifier Shawn Cowie. In a surprising upset it
was Cowie taking the win. He was a tenth back all weekend long,
but in the final St. Arnaud fell off a tenth while Cowie ran right
on his usual low 5.30's. He took the stripe by a slim .0073 (about
three feet). He goes to back to back finals (R/U in 2015) at the
Winternationals. TAFC was also a close final. This time it was the
#1 and # 2 qualifier doing battle. Jonnie Lindberg and John Lombardo
were the class of the field making over a dozen 5.40 runs throughout
the weekend. In the final it was World #1 Lindberg going 5.42 to
Lombardo's 5.45. Pro Stock saw Greg Anderson get the first win under
the new Pro Stock rules. The Summit team was the most dominant all
weekend long and Anderson defeated Jason Line in the final round
on a holeshot, 6.617 - 6.609. Steve Torrence got the win in Top
Fuel. Torrence was the #1 qualifier and he defeated the #2 qualifier
Doug Kalitta. It was another close battle with Steve running a 3.73
to Doug's 3.75 (the margin was .0044). Funny Car saw Ron Capps earn
the win. He was the #2 qualifier and he took out the #5 qualifier
Del Worsham on a holeshot in one of the closest FC finals in history.
Capps' .052 light and 3.981 was .0008 better than Worsham's .071
activated 3.962. Less that five inches.

February
13, 2016

Pomona
and Winternationals finished day 3 today and both the Funny Cars and Top
Fuelers were flying. Jack Beckman leads Funny Car with a 3.88, teammate
Ron Capps is #2 and Robert Hight is #3. Steve Torrence is on top in Top
Fuel while Steve Torrence is #2 and Tony Schumacher is #3. Pro Stock is
about .08 slower than last year. The new EFI will take some time. The
Elite Dodges are in middle of the pack while team Summit leads. In TAD,
Don St. Arnaud ended up #1 in a repeat of the Finals three months ago.
He went 5.18 again at 285 mph. Shaw Cowie ended up in the middle of the
field with a 5.300. Both he and St. Arnaud won their round one match-ups.
Joey Severance won as well. Jonnie Lindberg and John Lombardo Jr ran mid
to low 5.40's in TAFC. Ray Bobrowski photos

Ray
Bobrowski photos

Brittany
Force ran well and sits #6 with a 3.755 best

Courtney
Force is in the top half (#6 as well) with a 3.946.

Erica
Enders is in a Mopar thanks to the new major sponsorship. They are
not quite on top of their game yet, and are .06 back of the Summit
team.

Greg
Anderson, Jason Line (and Bo Butner) are the only 6.50's cars in
the field.

Shawn
Cowie failed to run a 5.2 by 1/1000ths of a second. He is off to
round two though. He takes on Manitoba driver Gord Gingles in round
two. Quite possibly for the first time in recent memory two Canadians
were on top of TAD qualifying.

Australian
Steve Ham is the owner of the ex Red Wolf Funny Car (previously
owned by John and Ruth Evanchuk. He ran a very impressive 5.56 in
his second North American race (lost in round one though).

Ray
Bobrowski photos

The
BMH Pro Mod is ready to hit the road. The car was completed Friday
and their initial fire-ups are complete. Now the 3000 mike trek
to Palm Beach Florida and the first laps on the new car. The car
is awesome and the team is stoked to see how they match up against
NHRA's best Pro Mods. Good luck Shane, Justin and Ryan and the whole
team.

February
9, 2016

Testing
is on for the Pro Stock teams. They began yesterday at Phoenix and continue
today and tomorrow in advance of the Winternationals this Friday. One
notable not there is Larry Morgasn. He was informed early last week that
his 2015 sponsor 'FireAde' would not be back. They decided on aligning
with Bob Vandergriff Racing and Leah Pritchett on her Top Fuel car. Larry
still hopes to be racing this season.

Tim
Boychuk was out in his brand new Camaro Funny Car Sunday and Monday at
Wild Horse Pass. He made a handful of five second runs including a few
low 5.70's. They just have to get the car to paint to have it ready for
the 2016 IHRA season. His best included a .979 60 foot and a 3.751/205
to the 660. If the car had all the candles lit in the final 300 feet it
would have been well into the 5.60's, (it ran a 5.704/233). Congrats Tim
and CC Twig

Rumors
are out there that Mike Dunn may be the new IHRA president. They apparently
do have an announcement on the 8th or 9th regarding their choice. This
could be interesting. What I am wondering is what are his actual credentials
to run the second largest drag racing association. His history is all
based around his driving a Nitro Car and one of NHRA's media leaders with
ESPN. Not sure he has the credentials, but if in fact he is named "President",
there will be a bunch of exposure.

One
announcement that was made today is the return of Austin Coil to JFR His
role is not a full time one, he is there though to help right the JFR
ship.

February
5, 2016

The
future of bracket racing and the entire red light debate is about to make
a huge change starting this Spring (at the "Fling")........Go
here for this historic change.

Testing
is underway at Phoenix in advance of next weeks Winternationals.

Notable
is Brian Hough trying to license in Tim Wilkerson's Funny Car (made
four laps but smoked the tires on a couple and caught a cone on
another) ...

Brittany
Force ran a couple 3.70's in her all new Alan Johnson powerplant
supplied and tuned monster TF Dragster.

Leah
Pritchett went in the '70's as well. Beside Quaker State she also
secured FireAde as a major sponsor. They will be the main provider
on select events in 2016.

Steve
Torrence was quickest so far in Top Fuel with a number of low 3.70's
and a few sub 3.00 660 ft incrementals.

The
new Bond/Molinari/Hinrichson Pro Mod is close to complete. The wiring
and small details are whats left. They plan on testing in a months
time in South Florida. John Dejonge photo

January
31, 2016

Major Drag racing is less than two weeks away. The NHRA's Winternationals
is February 11-14. This coming week is the only official test session
for the 2016 Mello Yello season and it is back where it all began
a few decades ago. For years Phoenix was the home to the Pro test
session. The last decade and a half have seen it move from Phoenix
to Las Vegas then to Palm Beach Florida. At times in the late 90's
and 2000's there has been as many as two or three different sessions.
The last couple years Phoenix has been totally left out of the mix
as Palm Beach became THE place to test. The economy and other factors
have played a role in the test traveling to the West Coast to get
in their opportunity to get the bugs out prior to the season opener
and Phoenix is the choice for 2016. A number of Pro Stock teams have
been getting their new EFI combos up to par and early results show
the Summit team is on top with low 6.50's (last year those runs would
have been mid 6.40's). The big absence so far has been Elite racing
and their four cars. The two Mopars (Enders and Coughlin) were short
of their main components and only have things together in the last
few days. They were said to be testing in Texas this weekend. They
will then head to Phoenix for final preparations. John Force has Alan
Johnson in his Top Fuel Dragster corner this year complete with all
AJ components. Funny Car has no real huge happening as all the top
10 will be back to try and defend or improve on last year's placing's.
You can bet that John Force will try and improve on that teams worst
overall showing in probably 2 decades. We
will be in Phoenix for the test starting Wednesday.

TO
ALL DOORWARZ SMALL TIRE COMPETITORS. THE 275 CLASS AND 8.5 CLASS.
We will be having a meeting February 25th at Jimy Macs Pub in Langley
(Port Kells) 200th exit, 96th ave, at 7:00pm. We invite all racers
interested in those two classes.. All others are welcome but this
gathering is to welcome all racers in those two classes to Doorwarz
(and possibly other events). As stated on the top of the Doorwarz
web site both classes will be 1/8 mile and SCSN rules (Possibly a
few mods to accommodate local racers). Everything will be discussed.
The main thing is to get commitments for both classes and to go over
Small tire classes and their future in the NW. We need strong car
counts to make it happen. Please email me at speedzone1@shaw.ca to
confirm your attendance at the meeting. The pub would like to know
a rough head count. Please reply back to the email. speedzone1@shaw.ca
or missionraceway@telus.net.
Thanks and see you there.

January
20, 2016

The
IHRA has named Skooter Peaco as the interem president of the Association.
Skooter has been the guy in charge of race operations for the last decade
and a half. They also announced that Cordova and Baton Rouge were dropped
from the National schedule. No surprise regarding Cordova as that track
was or is still owned by Scott Gardner. Here is the short form of their
future plans: They have a three-year plan, through 2019 to create a media
providing series for tv with a bi-weekly show. They will be paln to add
Top Fuel for 2017 and will continue with NF/C, Pro Stock and Harleys.
(not sure about Pro Mod). They will continue to run 1/4 mile.
Ultimately they want to have 12-16 events.

January
18, 2016

For
a week there has been rumours abound regarding happenings in the IHRA.

What
we know for sure is that president Scott Gardner is gone, Royce Miller
is gone (COO of IRG Motorsports), and the head of Corporate affairs Steven
Cole is no longer employed (He is back with JFR). They are not answering
calls regarding the issues at hand. Last week, I did try and contact Castrol
Raceway (which hosts THE most important National Event in the IHRA), to
try and get some info but I have not received a return call yet. While
we have have major issues regarding the media with the IHRA over the last
few years, the importance of what the IHRA is trying to do for the racer
is very evident, and can't be discounted. Most that race in the "I"
love it. They do have serious issues IMHO regarding the way they race
their National Events, particularly their entry platform and that has
turned off many competitors. In the end the rumoured problems do not sound
good, and for the good of the sport I hope the IHRA can get back on track.

January
17, 2016

This
weekend at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix, the first Heritage
race of the year was on the schedule. All classes except the nitro classes
competed. Veteran and the winningest driver in A/Fuel Kin Bates won A/Fuel
over Bill Wayne in side by side 6.20's. Full
results are here.

January
16, 2016

The
latest and greatest from RH and paint by Todd Zeller and Chris Cadle from
Todds Extreme paint. "Have Gun will travel". More
shots here.

News
at the IHRA includes the top guy Scott Gardner gone! Apparently a few
more changes are coming down the pipe.

January
14, 2016

SpeedZone
is proud to be the official "Canadian" media site for the Spring/Fling
Million. We have put together our own Canadian web page that will highlight
Canadians in the event as well as all the results for the race in April.
Go to the page and see all the raffle / million winners so far, and they
are close to filling raffle #32. All the details
and links for everything "Million" are here. (or click on
the banner below).

January
12, 2016

Congratulation's
to Dave Wren and Gary Beck for induction to the "NW NHRA Hall of
Fame" at the NW Division 6 Awards banquet on the weekend. Linda Schulz
earned the "Gracious Lady" award for her selfless volunteer
work. Also receiving special awards were Dylan Hough (Junior Driver of
the Year), Matt Keilman (ET Driver of the Year), Lane Cavar (Rookie of
the Year), Mike Shannon (Super Class Driver of the Year), Jeff Lane (Sportsman
Driver of the Year), Joey Severance (Top Alcohol Driver of the Year),
Chris Cannon (Super Class Mechanic), and Ken Lantz (Sportsman Mechanic).
The division champions are"

This
weekend was the Div 6 awards banquet in Seattle. Robert Thoresen put together
a great intro video (edited by Wayde Samuel) highlighting all six Divisional
events.

January
7, 2016

Bad
news from Bakersfield as part of the tower and a number of pieces of track
equipment was burned on early Wednesday morning. The main tower did not
get hit that bad and they are going to work already to make repairs and
have everything ready to go for the March Meet. There is a " go
fund me " page set up if you want to donate.

Sad
losses to report over the last couple weeks including a huge loss just
yesterday. Likely one of the top three or four most recognizable Jet Car
racers Roger Gustin passed away December 15th. Veteran Nitro (Top Fuel
and Funny Car) racer Jim Nicoll died last week. He was famous for a couple
huge explosions that ripped his Top Fuel car apart. Then after the switch
to Funny Car had a real bad fire that caused the "Snake" to
proclaim he was done racing (of course he did not retire). Comp
Plus had a great story on Nicholls a few years ago. Susan Parks the
wife of Frank Parks, one of the top Chassis builders through the last
five decades died a week ago. Then just a couple days ago it was reported
that Henry Gutierrez, owner of the bad ass "Jungle Jim" tribute
Nostalgia Nitro Funny Cars was found murdered in his home....

Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays to all SpeedZone's family, friends and fans.
We will post links for the 2016 SPeedZone Calendars later today. The price
will be $13.95

12:00
pm update

Calendars
are now available for purchase.Click here or on the calendar samples
below to got to the paypal page. You can also buy multi packs at startsaving
at two calendars. Buy a five pack you you end up paying for 4 only. Save
$15.00 (on five), and $35.00 (on an order of 10).

December
22, 2015

The
first two Calendars will be ready for Shipping by Thursday of this week.
A Pro Mod and a Top Sportsman/Top Dragster combo calendar are both just
having their finishing touches put on them at the printer. Both are bitchin!
The Doorslammer calendar just went on the press today and will be ready
early next week.

Big
news out of the Jim Bell Racing camp has Jim returning to a single driver
(himself) for the 2016 season.
"The cost was incredible in 2015 racing two cars at around 20 races
is like four seasons of NHRA Pro Mod. While it was a great time and Kevin
Fiscus is one of the best out there (no one wants to race more than Kevin),
I have to step back a bit.
Jim has two quality cars and will race one in the NHRa and the other at
PDRA and other events in 2016.

SpeedZone
wishes both racers a great 2016. Both of Bell's Pro Mods are featured
in the 2016 Pro Mod Calendar.

Still
rumors abound regarding John Force having Alan Johnson in his brain trust
for the 2016 season.

Locally
the 2016 schedules are up at both the Mission
Raceway web site (which will be undergoing a facelift for the 2016
season) and the Eagle Motorplex
web site. A SpeedZone Magazine picture is the main picture on the
web site right now. It is the awesome shot taken by Robert Hunter from
the last weekend of September with the Dave O'Hara boomer.

Ya
this shot.

December
12, 2015

Congratulations
to Edmonton Pro Mod racer Jim Bell for this major award this evening at
the PDRA 2015 banquet. Well deserved.

In
the NHRA silly season, it was announced just the day after we reported
it that Leah Pritchett has signed on wuth a team for 2015. It was with
Bob Vandergriff Racing and she will replace Larry Dicon. Quaker State
has come on as a makor sponsor to the team. Larry will remain with the
team.

DECEMBER
10, 2015

Two
pretty major oversights by the dumbass editor (me) from the SCSN
at Vegas. One of the local teams who are regular competitors in
the Doorslammer class at MRP, and have stepped up their program
over the last year and a half is Rod LeClaire and his team from
Victoria. This season was a short one for Rod as they had engine
issues early on and were delayed in parts arrival. They managed
to get out in August and September and then headed South for the
first time at Street Car. They did not have huge expectations heading
down to the race, they were more interested in fine tuning their
mild Nitrous setup and were hoping for high 6.80's or low 6.90's
at right around 200 mph. The only class they fit in was Pro Mod
for heads up racing (they have never run a small tire or 10.5 tire).
They ran a best of a 7.01 and had Various issues come up throughout
the weekend. They raced Garrett Richards in round one and while
Richards had issuers in the round Rod coasted after rattling the
tires. Richards advanced. Rod and the team will add a bit more power
for 2016 and hope to be a consistent 6 second performer. (Bob Snyder,
Steve Carlton and Paul Fercho photos).

In
what has been rumored (and known) for more than a month, Elite Performance
confirms that Mopar will be the main sponsor for Elite Racing. The long
time sponsor for Allen Johnson Racing has switched alliances with the
most dominant Pro Stock team over the last two years. Erica Enders and
Jeg Coughlin will fly the Mopar colors with the new EFI under the Dodge
Dart bodies. The team will still have a Chevrolet presence though as Vince
Nobile and Drew Skillman will have Chevrolet power and Camaro Bodies.
Elite Performance with the Freeman family, the Jones family, Nick Ferro,
and crew chiefs Brian Self and Mark Ingersoll.

Shawn
Langdon has signed on with DSR full time for 2016. The means all three
Top Fuel cars in the team have past and current world Champions behind
the wheel. That signing could mean the Alan Johnson may be on his way
to John Force Racing. No major sponsor is on the horizon for Johnson and
JFR did let go Brittany's crew Chief Todd Smith. Could be a big game changer
for Force. Leah Pritchett is also rumored to have found a home in Top
Fuel, after Dote Racing announced they were suspending operations for
the foreseable future. It is said to be on an established two car team.
The current two car teams are: Dixon-Connolly, Kalitta-JR Carr, Torrence-Torrence
and Crampton-Lucas.....hmm!

December
4, 2015

Here
is Spring Fling 1,000,000.00 details. Click on the poster or the S.F.
logo above to go to the event web site. Right now they are holding raffles
for entry into the Million.